Foster CARE Closet Serves 230 Kids Across Nebraska, Doubling Previous Years’ Numbers

In the first three weeks of October, Foster CARE Closet (www.fostercarecloset.org) served 230 kids across Nebraska, which is more than double any previous years’ numbers. The Closet provided $27,000 dollars worth of clothing to these kiddos, budgeting $120 per child. With these increased numbers, the Closet has both the opportunity and the challenge of extending their operations to meet the need.

Word has spread to agencies across western Nebraska. On one day in November, Foster CARE Closet served a group of 50 children from St. Francis in Grand Island. With these record numbers of kids served, the Closet is having to shop for more clothes than expected and leverage their staff and volunteers.

The foster care system exists to protect children but the system is broken. Children who are removed from their homes can incur additional trauma as their physical needs are sometimes overlooked in the rush to find them a new home.

At The Foster Haven/Foster CARE Closet, their main goal is to build up the dignity and value of the children they serve by meeting their physical needs: space to just be, rest, and play, along with food and new clothes of their own choosing. Site managers report time and time again that kids or even case managers and foster parents come in with a lot of despondency or defensiveness, and over the course of the appointment, they begin to warm up. By the end of the process, they are often visibly encouraged. To learn more, visit www.fostercarecloset.org or follow the Facebook page (@FosterCareCloset).