Local Nonprofit Supporting Foster Kids Gets New Name, Asks For Volunteers

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The Office Moms & Dads (OMD), a local nonprofit organization and group of community members, announced a name change on Thursday. On March 1, after registering with the Secretary of State’s office, the nonprofit became Fosterful.

According to the group’s announcement, its leadership “believes that ‘Fosterful’ highlights the fact that the group has become more than just volunteer companions to kids in foster care. They are mindful, thoughtful and hopeful. Through trauma-informed care practices, they provide nurturing environments and basic necessities to kids in care in 26-plus locations throughout Washington and Idaho. Under this new banner the nonprofit organization has room to grow into a movement for changing the child welfare system from the inside out.”

The group’s members have been volunteering at child welfare offices in Washington and Idaho since 2013. Its goal is to spend time with children as they enter the foster care system “so that children don’t feel alone during such a frightening time.”

The group has also worked to provide “new clean clothing, luggage, food and other necessities so the kids are ready when a foster caregiver comes to pick them up.”

Fosterful’s volunteers work during business hours Monday through Friday to help alleviate part of the burden social workers face in their jobs.



The group has also been providing aid during the pandemic by “providing resources that social workers could deliver during visits, like remote learning supplies, clothing, therapeutic toys and meals to caregivers who had no other source for respite.”

Recently, Washington state Department of Children, Youth, and Families offices have opened to the public and requests for Fosterful’s volunteers have increased as a result.

Fosterful is looking for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Sarah Copes at s.copes@fosterful.org or call 315-569-7296.

Anyone interested in volunteering must pass a background check and be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.