Holiday Adopt A Family

This week our post comes from Leanne Lawson, Family Services' Teen Parenting Program Coordinator. Are you interested in making the holidays special for a local child?

The Family Services Teen Parent Program is looking for sponsors for our 2010 Adopt-A-Family drive. Our program helps young parents in our community learn parenting and self-sufficiency skills. We served approximately 170 pregnant and/or parenting families throughout Dutchess County each year. Many of our families have limited resources and live at or below the poverty level. If you would like to make the holidays brighter for a child and a young mother or father in our community, please consider adopting a family.

This is a great group activity as well! Many church groups, offices, classes, etc. will adopt a family together.

If you decide to adopt a family, we will give you all the pertinent information to help you select gifts (age, clothing size, gender) and arrange a date for the drop off of the gifts by mid-December. The gifts can include clothing, toys, toiletries, food, etc. Since we must assure the confidentiality of our clients, names and personal information will not be included.


Here is a profile of one of our families:

Mom is 19 years old and has a 2 year old son. Mom is working a full time overnight job and is saving up money to get an apartment. Mom dropped out of high school, but plans to start GED classes in January. Her little boy loves music and interactive toys. Mom has to use a lot of her paycheck to cover her transportation costs (buses/cabs) to get to her job, but is intent on working. Mom would greatly appreciate any help in making the holidays special for her son.

For more information, please contact Leanne Lawson, Family Services Teen Parent Program Coordinator at (845) 452-1110 x3173 or llawson@familyservicesny.org