Nonprofit will distribute essentials and comfort items to every DFPS region, from El Paso to Beaumont, in May
Carrying Hope, a 501c3 nonprofit that provides Hope Packs––backpacks filled with new essentials and comfort items designed to provide everything a foster child needs for the first 48 hours in a new home––will transform the way 1,000 children enter the foster care system during May, which is National Foster Care Month.
More than 22,000 children are removed from their homes by CPS in the state of Texas every year. Often, when children enter the foster care system, they arrive at their new foster home with nothing other than the clothes they are wearing. Carrying Hope, which was founded by foster parents and advocates who watched children arrive to their doorsteps time and time again with absolutely nothing, is changing this sad scenario for children across Texas by providing lovingly-curated Hope Packs brimming with new, age-appropriate necessities such as diapers, clothing and toiletries as well as comfort items such as stuffed animals, nightlights and toys designed to bring hope and comfort to children who have endured the unimaginable.
“Imagine having a baby brought to your doorstep in nothing but a dirty diaper, or seeing a 10-year-old arrive with only one or two personal items that have been hastily shoved into a black trash bag,” said Kristin Finan, Carrying Hope’s CEO and president and an adoptive and foster parent. “Every day, foster parents watch scenarios like these play out. We believe our Texas kids deserve so much more, and Carrying Hope will do everything in our power to change this heartbreaking narrative.”
Carrying Hope works directly with CPS and foster care agencies throughout Texas to distribute Hope Packs, which are broken down by age and gender from newborns through teens and each contain an approximate $100 value. Because Hope Packs are brought at the time of placement, foster children benefit from them immediately while foster parents, who may have little time to prepare for a child’s arrival, can spend those first few hours bonding rather than rushing to the store.
The theme of this year’s #NationalFosterCareMonth focuses on the important role and dedication of foster parents. Statistically, half of all licensed foster homes quit after their first placement, creating increased instability for children in foster care. This is why the work Carrying Hope does is so important––not only for the children being placed in a new, unfamiliar home, but also for the foster families caring for them. Carrying Hope is also in the process of launching an emergency shelter for children awaiting a more permanent placement, which is set to open this fall.
This month will mark the most wide-spread distribution in history for Carrying Hope, which refers to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS) Regional boundaries map. Based in Austin, Carrying Hope regularly distributes to foster children throughout Central Texas as well as Houston, San Antonio, Waco and beyond. However this month, foster children and families in all 11 Regions of Texas, including those living in the farthest flung corners of the vast state, will feel the positive impacts of this broad distribution effort.
Interviews can be arranged upon request with Carrying Hope’s co-founders as well as foster parents who have benefited from receiving Hope Packs. Follow along as Carrying Hope helps foster children throughout Texas during National Foster Care Month with the hashtag #CarryingHopeAcrossTexas.
