Angels Foster Family Network August Newsletter

July 23: We are proud of and sad for the mom who "safely surrendered" her baby this weekend. Such a brave act! This little peanut is now in the arms of our awesome Angels family and couldn't be safer.

Do you know about the Safely Surrendered Baby Law? It allows any parent to confidentially surrender an infant. As long as the baby has not been abused or neglected, they can surrender the baby without fear of prosecution.

July 2012: 11 Babies Placed, 10 Babies Turned Away
Angels found outstanding families for 11 babies in the month of July. Regrettably, 10 more calls were received and we had no homes available.

Imagine the difference you could make for one of
the 10 babies Angels turned away.
Become a part of the Angels Family- Inquire today!

Thank you to all the San Diego families who have
transformed the lives of our babies.

A letter from our Program Director:

Hello Team Angels,

I'm Annika Winter, the Angels Program Director, and I want to introduce you to our new Angels Training 2.0.

Angels' goal is to serve ALL babies and toddlers in San Diego County foster care, which means we need MORE nurturing families and fast!

That leads us to our new foster parent training format, an accelerated version of our pre-certification process. Instead of an extended eight week training, we have condensed it to just one information packed week with 2 eight hour sessions and 2 four hour sessions. It's intensive, but it's also innovative, interactive, and inspiring.

This past weekend we completed our first round of this new training process with seven impressive families. We had a great weekend getting to know each other and they walked away with all the tools they need to be amazing foster parents. One of these families already has their first placement!

Each time Angels has to turn down a child who needs a loving foster home, a little piece of our heart breaks. In July, there were 10 little souls we could have touched, healed, and saved.

If you have ever considered helping a baby or toddler, please contact us today to learn more. We need you. The little ones need you.

Annika Winter

Program Director

Make an Online Donation

Help a child today.

Join us for an unforgettable evening featuring keynote speaker:

Antwone Fisher
UCLA professor, best-selling author and screenwriter.
Experience a unique silent auction and reception followed by dinner, our inspiring program,
and exclusive live auction.

Register today!

Diary of a Foster Mom: Introducing Amy

We are excited to introduce our second Foster Mom Blogger, Amy! She is mom to Ethan and Abby and Baby Girl, her Angels foster baby. We'll let her do the talking now...

Eight Weeks and Counting

"It should be a short term placement since her bio parents want nothing to do with her." After hearing that we prepared for such a situation with a few unexpected twists of course. Then, in between the feedings and diaper changes and quiet moments of watching her sleep, we dreaded the phone ringing. Any day we would be getting the call that County would be picking her up to take her to her Forever Family... click here to continue.

A HUGE thank you to Kristen, our fantastic pioneer foster mommy blogger.

Ask Dr. Mama

Dr. Mama is better known as Rachel Zahn, MD, a pediatrician and mom of three grown kids. She is also the Angels Associate Director. She is always available to our foster parents for support and answers to any health questions you might have. For more parenting advice check out her website MamasOnCall.com.

Hi Dr. Mama,

I read through your other post about sleeping through the night, but think we have a little tweak on the situation. Our 9 month old was basically sleeping through the night. Some nights he woke up maybe 1or 2 times for just a few minutes, but we wouldn't even have to go into the room as he would put himself back to sleep.

Now about a month later he is waking up 2, 3, sometimes 4 times a night crying loudly. We don't think they are night terrors because he is wide awake. Foster dad went back to work recently after being home for almost a month (we have newborn twins!). How much could Dad going back to work impact how little man sleeps at night? If this is the reason, how long will it take for him to get back to his old routine? What can we do if he needs to be "retrained"?

We are not comfortable with the crying it out method. Are there methods that don't involve letting him cry - even for 10 minutes? Right now we do dream feedings, giving him 1-2 ounces and soothing him. We got him to sleep through the night the first time by weaning him from these dream feedings. What do you think of this "method"? Thank you!

Sleepless in San Marcos

Read the answer here

Read previous Dr. Mama questions or e-mail Rachel a question.

Happy Family Picnic

Our 2nd Annual Happy Family Picnic was Saturday July 14th! It was a wonderful afternoon for the entire Angels family. We love Mrs. Frostie's Ice Cream Truck and I Love Tacos Catering!
Angels parents- keep an eye out for a link to the pictures taken at the event!

Did You Know?

In 2011, 560 families contacted Angels to inquire about becoming foster parents, 205 attended our orientation, and 23 became certified Angels families.
Click the image for our 2011 Annual Report.

Thank You Troop 5001

Some of our favorite volunteers hosted a Baby Shower for our Angels! Girl Scout Troop 5001 held a shower - including games, goodies and gifts for our babies. These girls collected lots of fun new toys, clothes and other necessities. We can't say THANK YOU enough! We love our young volunteers!

Thank You Corner

Angels is thankful for the donations of our valued friends. Without your generosity we could not provide the stable love and care that promotes healthy childhood development for San Diego children in need.

Thank you to all our generous July donors!

Angels Video

To learn more about Angels, please watch this video.

Call 619-283-8100 or contact us on-line at www.angelsfoster.org to learn how you can make a donation or become a foster parent.

Angels only places babies in San Diego County, California.