Foster Supports of Jefferson County
Project: Direct Family Support for children in foster and kinship care
Request: $15,000
Your gift shows up the day a child does.
Placements happen fast. A child who has experienced abuse, neglect or a parent's substance use is moved into a licensed or relative home, often with very little notice, and that home is rarely stocked for a new arrival. Foster Supports of Jefferson County exists to close that gap so the family can focus on bonding with the child instead of scrambling for supplies.
As of August 2026, Foster Supports was providing Direct Family Support to 104 children living with 55 families; 16 licensed foster families, 21 relative placement homes, 54 families with recently returned children, 10 adoptive families and 3 legal guardians. About half live in the Port Townsend area; half are spread across the county's outlying towns.
Every board member is a volunteer. The motto is "We Deliver," and they mean it!
What the requests look like
A grandmother received her grandbaby, who is tube-fed and requires repeated trips to Seattle Children's Hospital. Her household and vehicle costs jumped, and she lost many hours of work. Foster Supports brought clothes, diapers, wipes, gas and food cards, and a special baby seat — and coordinated with Olympic Angels so services weren't duplicated.
A mother had her three children returned to her. They arrived with very few clothes and ill-fitting shoes, and her marginal income didn't stretch to feeding three more active kids. Foster Supports supplied clothes, properly fitted new shoes from Quimper Mercantile, and gas and food cards, since she is continuing drug treatment several days a week and driving much further than before.
The full list of what the $15,000 buys is ordinary but critical: food, diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, gas, eye exams and glasses, bedding, mattresses, cleaning supplies, work clothes, ferry fees, school supplies, court-required visit transportation, baby equipment.
Here are the problems you can help solve
In the first six months of 2026, Foster Supports spent 156% more in the Direct Family Support category than in the same period of 2025, driven by 11 new families caring for 21 children. The cost of goods has risen. Individual donations through July have fallen. And DCYF is not supporting families at the rate it once did. Plus it takes longer to fulfill requests when it can fulfill them at all. Meanwhile the number of families has risen every year since 2017.
What your donation makes possible
UGN/Give Jefferson provides approximately one third of Foster Supports' annual revenue, which makes this one of the highest-leverage gifts in the campaign. Without it, a volunteer board that currently spends its time talking with and serving families would have to spend that time fundraising instead — and would have to say no more often.
Total direct family support could reach $20,000 this year. Your gift is what lets them keep saying yes.
