New baby gear ‘library’ in urgent need of donations for foster parents

A unique pilot program has become a game-changer for foster families who find themselves caring for young children in emergency situations.

A unique pilot program has become a game changer for foster families that find themselves caring for young children in emergency situations. But the program urgently needs the public’s help to succeed.

“Sometimes, foster families get less than 24 hours notice that a baby or toddler is coming into their care,” explained Meghan Neufeld, executive director of the non-profit BabyGoRound.“And then they’re often left scrambling to quickly try and find these expensive items like cribs, strollers, warm clothes.”

“We have created somewhat of a gear library, which will allow us to pull items for a foster family that has been given short notice that they will be taking in a baby or a toddler,” Neufeld said, adding that it means they don’t need to spend money on gear they may not require for an extended time period and it can be returned for others to borrow.

Though BabyGoRound has long offered baby products to new parents struggling to make ends meet, the expansion to include foster parents is part of a partnership with the Fraser Valley Foster Care Association.

Joanne, who didn’t want her last name used, has been a foster parent in Surrey for eight years.

She said the new program provides critical help.

“Recently, there was a situation where we had kids come into our homes that literally had (only) the clothes on their back and the next day my husband was here picking up full wardrobes for them,” she said, adding that the new program takes away the stress of trying to find baby and toddler items on very short notice.

“It’s not unusual to have very little notice, like 45 minutes, a couple of hours, that somebody’s on the way and that you need to figure out all the needs that they’re going to have,” explained Joanne. “When we’re dealing with the stress of what (new foster children) need, it can take away from the emotional needs of when they’re arriving in our home.”

Because of BabyGoRound’s library, Joanne said she can now spend time comforting and getting to know the children, rather than trying to find baby gear and clothing.

Items from the gear library are returned when no longer required, but the program needs help keeping up with the demand.

“The biggest threat to this new pilot program is simply a lack of gear to meet the needs,” said Neufeld. “We are chronically low on strollers, cribs, bassinets.”

This project assists Fraser Valley foster parents. There are 2,400 foster parents in B.C.

“(Foster parenting) absolutely is a hard job, but the kids make it worth it,” said Joanne.