Can you volunteer at an orphanage/ adoption center?
The school i attend calls for a certain amount of volunteer hours, and i REALLY want to volunteer at an orphanage/ adoption center. if anyone know, please answer!!
If you are in the USA, there really aren’t any orphanages any more. Most children are placed in foster care.
Due to privacy issues, they are very careful about any one who volunteers with children who are in foster care or available for adoption. There are age restrictions and you will have to complete a background check.
A better idea would be to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a shelter for abused and neglected women and children. You may not get to work with the clients, though. When we volunteered at a facility for abused women and children, we did things like sort through and organize their food pantry, sort through donated clothing and household items, and clean the apartments when the families were not present.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:03 am
If you are in the USA, there really aren’t any orphanages any more. Most children are placed in foster care.
Due to privacy issues, they are very careful about any one who volunteers with children who are in foster care or available for adoption. There are age restrictions and you will have to complete a background check.
A better idea would be to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a shelter for abused and neglected women and children. You may not get to work with the clients, though. When we volunteered at a facility for abused women and children, we did things like sort through and organize their food pantry, sort through donated clothing and household items, and clean the apartments when the families were not present.
References :
http://www.womenandchildren.org/search.asp
May 28th, 2010 at 5:14 am
There are no orphanages in the US.
Call 211. They are the experts in non profits in your area. Volunteer at the local food pantry, soup kitchen, domestic abuse shelter, or homeless shelter. Read at the library, have a story hour. Read at the local hospital in the waiting room. Help at the animal shelter or humane society.
If you can’t do that; have a food drive; "Oodles of Noodles" is a pasta drive that is usually very successful for the food pantry. Collect new toothbrushes and hairbrushes for the domestic abuse shelter. Collect blankets, hats, gloves for the homeless shelter. Collect used blankets and towels for the animal shelter.
The need is great; the opportunities are endless.
References :