how To help

No matter what level of involvement you are able to commit to, whether it is opening your home to a youth/child in the foster care system, occasionally volunteering your time as a mentor or tutor, participating in a one-time-only event in your community, or donating money or in-kind items to a foster care organization - your assistance is very valuable.  See below for some ideas as to how you can get involved!






Mentor
The National Mentoring Partnership maintains the Mentoring Connector, the only national database of youth mentoring programs connecting volunteers to opportunities in their local communities.  You can select your location, the type of mentoring you are interested in (even E-mentoring!), ages you are interested in, and can choose to specifically mentor foster youth.
Volunteer
Volunteer Match has a searchable database of tons of volunteer opportunities nationwide.  You can search for "foster youth" in your local commnity and browse opportunities to get involved.  Depending on your location you can find everything from more long-term opportunities commitments or one-time events.
Foster and/or Adopt
Online and over the phone, Adopt US Kids provide information and resources to families exploring foster care and adoption. Families who register on their site can search their national photolisting of more than 5,000 children and youth in foster care who are available for adoption and make inquiries directly to the children’s caseworkers.
If you are interested in fostering or adopting, The National Foster Care & Adoption Directory offers adoption and foster care resources that are searchable by state.
Donate
Through LifeSet Network you can select registry items for a specific foster youth in the Network and even communicate directly with the youth! Or maybe you can’t decide which youth you’d like to support? Donations to the registry fund will help fulfill higher-priced registry items and time-sensitive needs for youth in the LifeSet Network.
Make a tax deductible donation to Foster Care Counts. 100% of donations go to fund Guardian Scholars: On-campus support programs for college students from foster care!
Together We Rise empowers young people to reach out and support foster youth by getting involved in several of TWR’s unique projects, which include providing duffle bags filled with necessities and comfort items to foster kids, giving foster youth a bicycle, or providing resources for kids aging out of the system.
A Home Within builds networks of qualified therapists who agree to see a Foster Child, Teen, or Young Adult in weekly, pro-bono therapy - for as long as it takes for mental health treatment.  They provide open-ended individual psychotherapy to current and former foster youth, free of charge.
Fostering Media Connections harnesses the power of journalism to advance child welfare and juvenile justice reform by covering emerging solutions to the systems’ challenges.
Homeless kids come to Covenant House in crisis. Immediately and without question, Covenant House meets their basic human needs – a nourishing meal, a shower, clean clothes, medical attention, and a safe place away from the dangers of the street.to edit.  Homeless kids never know how they will get their next meal or where they will sleep. Covenant House provides the stability and structure necessary to build a positive future.
A Sense of Home brings together volunteers to help foster youth furnish and move into their new home. Utilizing donated furniture to make the youth’s first permanent living space beautiful — affords them dignity, self- worth & pride. Each youth pays it forward partaking as a volunteer creating another youth’s home, becoming further immersed in the community, learning from healthy role models who can open up educational & career opportunities.
The Foundation for California Community Colleges is the statewide non-profit supporting the California Community College system, the largest system of higher education in the nation.  The Foundation's foster youth services programs empower foster youth to better understand their choices and actions and transition into adulthood.
Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer
As a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer, you are empowered by the courts to help advocate for children in foster care. A CASA gets to know the child and advocates on their behalf. He or she sees the child regularly throughout the course of a month and gathers information and submits reports to the court on the well-being and progress of the child. A CASA volunteer is assigned to one case and it is the goal that the same person stays with the child until permanency is achieved for the child.
Support Youth-Led Foster Care Advocacy Groups
Foster Youth in Action trains and empowers foster youth to be strong leaders who advocate for their interests while actively improving the foster care system at both the state and national levels. Using innovative, evidence-based practices and curricula, FYA works to cultivate leadership qualities in youth and their adult supporters around the country.
California Youth Connection: California Youth Connection (CYC) is a youth led organization that develops leaders who empower each other and their communities to transform the foster care system through legislative, policy, and practice change.  There are chapters in 33 Counties in California.  You can volunteer to be an adult supporter.
Still looking for more ways you can get involved?  Check out the Child Welfare Blog's list of 101 ways to get involved in foster care!