[jazerb]

Thanks so much for all your replies and suggestions! I have a few more questions about the overnight bags. A few of you said CPS might not always hand out the bags and better to set up a phone # for fp's to call. This is a great idea...never thought of that. However, my personal thought was that I wanted the bags to be given to the child immediately upon removal from the bio family....before taken to the FP house so they can have comfort items like pillow, blanket & stuffed animal in their possesion when they arrive. It's got to be so scary for these kids to be removed from the only environment they know....no matter how bad.....without some kind of personal security item to clutch onto. I know police keep stuffed animals in their car trunks to give kids for this very purpose....to help make what's happening less scary. You know what I mean?

Also, (sorry so long!) What about including a non-perishable food item like granola bars or fruit chews in the bag? Also, from your experience, have any of these kids ever enjoyed something as simple as a Happy Meal before? I know someone who works at Jack in the Box corporate office and could probably get hooked up with some free kid's meal vouchers. Can try to get these from some of the bigger places too.....McDonalds or Burger King. Is this something good for the bags?

Again, thanks for all your feedback! Jill

[L-A-J-C-R-C]

Hi,

The vouchers are a great idea too! I wouldn't do the non-perishable food items. You would have to worry about allergies (peanut for instance or milk [my son has terrible milk and milk protein allergies]). Some kids are hyperactive and, depending on what they eat, it could be made worse by certain foods or dyes, etc. The only problem I could foresee with fast food vouchers are the other kids living in the home or maybe a foster parent that wouldn't use the voucher for some reason.

I think you should give the bags to DCS. I can only speak for our local agency and they LOVED the idea and were SURE that every child received theirs. They called each and every foster parent and handed out bags for each of our kids! These bags were donated for the kids already in care first then for kids coming in to care. They are ALWAYS asking for people to donate bags so they can put some together on their own for the kids.

If you aren't comfortable doing that, maybe you could call the police department and ask if they'd take the donations and have them in the trunk of the car to hand to the kids too.

Best of luck with this. I admire you going the extra mile for the kids.

Michelle

[Kay-Ray1]

That is a really great idea! I used to manage a McDonald's and we would donate free meal cards to churches and other groups. Call the main office not the store because the store only has a limited supply. Good luck!!