[ALI143]

sfbaymom is right that respite is generally a babysitting duty for the hardworking foster parents and that they most likely wouldn't want to share "their" kids during the holidays, but Thanksgiving and New Years can be a busy season for respite providers because the foster families want to leave the state and/or country to be with loved ones and many can't get approval to take their little ones with them. It can be hard to decide to not take them, but if you put in the word now or soon you may have someone able to plan that the holiday be spent with you. Another form of respite (but it's really more like emergency placement) is when the worker calls you and has a child/siblings but not an appropriote home yet. Such as they have an aunt that they can stay with but she's out of town for the weekend or holidays so the social worker calls you instead to take them.

A good way is to go to a county foster parent support group and leave a couple flyers with your name, a little about you and maybe a picture. Explain that your home will be open to # of kids over the holidays for respite. That way the foster parents can make their plans guilt-free and give the child/ren plenty of time to get used to the idea of being at your house for that time.