Special Needs kids

[mnmom22]

I have been following posts on this board for quite awhile but don't post often.. I'm looking for some help for a family that I know. I'm hoping this board may have some creative ideas. I have 2 special needs kids and WDW has been such a wonderful place for them to "be kids". I adopted my 6yo son a year ago and we have been to WDW a couple times -- he loves it and I can watch all the tension and unhappiness melt from him. The same thing happens to my my 20yo dd. The foster family my son lived with before me is the most wonderful family I've ever encountered. They've adopted 5 children from fostercare and have 3 fosterkids right now. All their kids are special needs although none are wheelchair bound. Most kids adopted from fostercare have been through a life of such hardship and pain. I would love to see this family have a trip to WDW and let their kids be "KIDS" for a few days. I have tried Make-a Wish and a couple of other agencies but they only deal with life threatening illness in children. This is very admirable but there are a whole lot of kids out there dealing everyday with the repercussions of mom's that drank or did drugs through their pregnancies. The heartbreak of being removed from their families - even if it was the best thing for them. I could go on forever on this topic --- sorry for my soapbox. Does anyone know where I might start trying to raise money for this kind of a trip for really deserving kids? Thanks in advance for any help you might have!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

What a nice idea!
There is no specific organization that I know of that does things like this, but in situations in the past where the person has not qualified for Make A Wish, here were some of the other suggestions:
1) Service organizations, such as the Kiwanas or Lions club in the area.
2) Getting the news media involved. I see you are from Minnesota. If you are in the Twin Cities viewing area, this mom and dad sound like someone to nominate for Channel 11's program called 11 Who Care . It would not give a trip to WDW, but I know there is some money involved in the award if they get chosen from the people who are nominated.
3) You could try contacting WDW directly and see if they have any programs that would help. I think theirs are mostly for life threatening situations too, but you never know.
4) You might try posting this on the Community Board or the Inspiration Board. There are quite a few posters there who might get behind something like this and might have some other ideas for you.

 

[mnmom22]

Thanks Sue -- We are in the Twin Cities -- The south end . I'll post on the other boards and check with some of the agencies around here. I have written letters of praise to Oprah and Rosie about this family but I know they get requests from everywhere for everything. I just hope if I'm persistant enough I'll be able to work something out for them --- It would be worth everything to see their faces!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

i thought of Oprah and Rosie too (great minds think alike), but I didn't mention it since I'm sure they get thousands of requests a week.
Good luck.

 

[tammie]

hi we are fosterparents allso and we have had many kids in the past 5 years going on 6 years......we had about 100 kids during that time so i really understand your friends of yours......we allso has our son with autism.......the fosterparents should maybe try the kids social worker or the department of children and familys......we get respit money 25.00 a day if we take the kids out of state and we bring them wheth us............we get up to 14 days of respit........maybe deparment of children and familys can get some money for them to take a trip like that.........good luck to you..........tammie

 

[LindaDVC]

We used to be foster parents and now adoptive parents of our 13 year old. He was our first foster kid 11 years ago.


Hope you are able to find a source to help that family!
Linda

 

[s&k'smom]

Hi, mnmom22, you got some great ideas, definately try the local Knights of Columbus, do you have them in MN. Also try your local human service agency or the one you are working with for respite monies. Here in Mass once a family goes through the eligibility process they can tap into the local state agencies too, they may not get trip money but you may get funding for at least a break and they may hook you into other agencies that would give trip money. One avenue usually leads to another. Just wanted to wish the family good luck and God bless.

 

[been there, done that]

Try the Starlight Foundation. I think their main office is in So. Calif, but they have chapters across the country.

 

[SueM in MN]

The Starlight Foundation is a very good organization, but it is also for children with serious illnesses, so I don't think it would work in this situation.

 

[nancycels]

try signing up for the Philanthropy News Digest, they have a forum that
addresses ways to get money for almost anything, but this wd be a good
thing to try it out on...also there's a fund raising pamphlet u can send for.
well worth it, and the forum board is amazing! u get email about 1/mo, maybe
twice.

 

[teri]

It is a lovely idea... and I know several families who would benefit from such a program.... but that is just it. There are thousand of foster and special needs adoptive families out there who would qualify. One big issue is that media attention and public appeals violate the privacy rights of the children in care, and there can be issues if there are TPR procedings going on, or other custody issues. It also violates the privacy of the birthparents, if there is a public appeal that mentions their past history and uses that as an appeal. Several liability and ethical issues involved.

Some foster parents do get a respite budget, and also money to attend conferences... seems to me that the ideal thing would be to schedule conferences at WDW for such families, at seriously reduced and sponsored rates.