Gifts, Party Brighten Holiday for Foster Children

The holidays can be a difficult time for foster children who are living away from their birth families. Our annual gift drive and holiday party made the holidays a little brighter for those children.



Every year, the Child Welfare Services (CWS) social workers in our department solicit support from the community and other DSS employees in order to obtain and wrap gifts for foster children.   

• In Santa Barbara, for the fourth consecutive year, the students from Laguna Blanca Middle School donated gifts from “wish lists” that each foster child completed. (One Laguna Blanca student made a dream come true when she got a local business to donate a wet suit to a child who had asked for one.) On December 9, Santa Barbara DSS staff and several student volunteers from Laguna Blanca got in the spirit at a gift-wrapping party, and wrapped all the gifts so the social workers could deliver them before December 25.

• In Lompoc, social worker Laurie Lee coordinated the gift drive for mid-county foster children. Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Sheriff’s Department generously donated to the foster children of Lompoc. Local high school and Allan Hancock College students volunteered time to help wrap presents. The Cabrillo High school ASB sponsored a whole family. Lompoc police, employees from Vons, and other individuals also donated after word of mouth spread. "I had persons calling me everyday to donate after they heard that we were looking for gifts for foster kids," said Lee. "This was the best outpouring of support in the last three years since I started coordinating for Christmas gifts for Lompoc. We provided gifts for over 100 children and were able to also help out with some gifts for Santa Maria region."

• In Santa Maria, CWS supervisor Edwin Weaver spearheaded a community-wide appeal for gift-fund donations. CWS collaborated with Church for Life, SM Fighting Back, Angels FFA, Family Care Network FFA and Pathways FFA to ensure that the North County's foster children had a nice Christmas. Lisa Dilullo and Terry Paz assisted in the accounting and getting children presents from the Harley Davidson Toy run. Gift cards were given to every foster child from Santa Maria so their foster parents could pick out gifts the children wanted or needed. Older foster youth were given gift cards so they could pick out what they wanted themselves.

Foster children and foster parents were also appreciated at a holiday party at the Marriott in Buellton on December 18. (Pictures below.) Over 175  foster parents and children from Santa Barbara County attended the event, which featured kid-friendly activities such as cookie decorating, making monogrammed stockings, and making holiday cards and crafts.  CWS staff helped with all the activities and helped create the spirit of the day with holiday attire, Santa hats, reindeer antlers, and red and green jingling jewelry. CWS supervisor Chris Farro as served as MC, and Christmas carols were led by CWS supervisors Marianne Reagan and Edwin Weaver.  Deputy director Delfino Neira played Santa, posing for pictures with all the children (and some of the parents!). And no one went away hungry, with tables groaning beneath mini burgers, coconut shrimp, quesadillas, chicken wings, a dessert buffet and more. 

We'd like to thank all the DSS staff and community volunteers who made the gift drive a success...and CWS business specialist Yolanda Perez for organizing an amazing holiday party...and our many wonderful foster parents who provide care for our children every day of the year!