Foster Care “Wish List”

It’s fall.  The leaves are changing, there’s a brisk feeling in the air, and pumpkins are stacking up on porches throughout the neighborhood.  This can mean only one thing – it’s time to start thinking about Christmas. 

Now, normally I’m the kind of guy who resists any attempt by a holiday to jump to the front of the line for attention.  Christmas should wait patiently until Halloween and Thanksgiving have had their turn.  Today, though, I’m willing to break my rule and give Christmas a little early attention. 

As many of you who follow the happenings at America World know, we are in the process of expanding our services to encompass foster care and domestic adoptions.  These programs will be launched first in Virginia, and are currently in the initial licensing stages.  It will be several months before we have all the paperwork done and infrastructure in place, but we can start serving these children right now. 

I recently attended a meeting of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services where one of the social workers passed out a Christmas Wish List for children in foster care.  The list looked like any Christmas list that a child would make around this time of year, but also included such basic items as toothpaste and towels.  It struck me as I read the list how “normal†these children are.  They have the same needs, wants, and wishes as any other child of the same age.  But it also struck me how abnormal daily life is for a child in foster care.  It is impossible to look at a child and immediately identify them as a foster child.  Children in foster care are as diverse as our communities – they come from all ages, races, and religions.  The one thing that they share, though, is that, for one of any number of reasons, they have been separated from their natural families.

We are eager to start serving these children and will soon be launching our Foster Care Christmas Wish List drive.  This drive is aimed at collecting items from the “Wish List†for children in foster care in Northern Virginia.  As we near the Christmas season, we are asking that you would prayerfully consider donating an item from the list to help a foster child experience God’s love this year.  You can also send a monetary donation along with a copy of the “Wish List†that we will be sending out in the coming weeks indicating what items you would like the money to be used to purchase.  On December 20, we will deliver all donated gifts to the Fairfax County Department of Family Services to be distributed to the children in foster care. 

You can send your donations to:

     America World Adoption Association
     Attn: Foster Care Christmas Wish List
     6723 Whittier Ave., Ste. 202
     McLean, VA 22101

If you choose to make a monetary donation please write “Foster Care Christmas Wish List†in the memo line of your check and be sure to note what items you would like to purchase from the Wish List.

I hope that you will join us in this simple way to demonstrate God’s love to these truly special children at Christmastime.

For more information, please feel free to contact me, Andrew Brown, Director of Foster Care and Domestic Adoption, at andrew.brown@awaa.org or 1-800-429-3369 ext. 131.

— Andrew Brown, Director of Foster Care and Domestic Adoption