Vegetarian foster children need help?

Question

I need to find people who can help vegetarian foster children. I work with dozens of foster children who live in group homes and many are vegetarian and vegans. The problem is group homes are not able to fund special dietary needs for healthy vegetarians. Do you know of organizations who would be willing to supply group homes with vegetarian diets?

Answer 1

I only know of one family in my area that are foster parents that are vegetarian.  Their food bill went DOWN after they went vegetarian.

I don't know about the state that you are talking about - but the state that I live in - Texas - a person has to be certified to be a foster parent.

As to the cost - going to be cheaper than having to buy meat and dairy.

I like the suggestion by the other person about contacting those groups such as PETA and the like and see if they are willing to help others to keep from eating meat.  Would be interesting to see the reply to such a request.

Answer 2

The fact that these children are living in a safe environment and are getting 3 squares a day should be a priority

EDIT I  noticed I got a lot of thumbs down.  What I don't think you realize is that finding a good foster home is a feat in of itself.  These good people are alreay strained by suppoorting 3-5 7 or more children.  Not only do they have to deal with individual emotional and behavioral problems but also food allergies and medications.  Putting additional restrictions and or demands on these wonderful loving people is not the answer to an already precarious system.  It could actually push some of these good loving families to make the decision NOT to become foster parents.  Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices.

Answer 3

maybe any vegetarian asociations or how about vegetarians & vegans celebrities ...?

Answer 4

Good luck...

my kids are ADHD and we became vegetarian because it controlled their behavior which was food triggered. An angry EX used a false child abuse call (children being deprived and Christians are crazy) and children disappeared in 1990.

So in foster care they were fed the garbage food that contained sugars, food dyes, etc. that were the triggers..

Fruit Loops, pop tarts, sunny delight, etc. and my/these kids tore the foster home apart...well DUH! I tried to give you a vegetarian cook book and meal plan...

The  girl twins were 11 and the boy was 2 1/2, he was full vegetarian...can you imagine the tummy trouble and trauma that those kids went through because of the ignorance?

I found my son when he was 18 in 2007, and his food habits are terrible, ...found one of the twins last month she is 29...

Be careful with foster care and what is done to the children...

and I am still vegetarian and still christian...

cooking vegetables and leaving out the meat and food additives is not rocket science....

Answer 5

I want my thumbs down, too!

Sorry but this is just off.  And I have a lot of trouble believing that kids in homes so chaotic that they end up in foster care somehow became vegans while it was going.  They've probably been living on junk and fast food.

And shame on anyone trying to turn them into vegans.

Answer 6

If you have already been put through something awful and now you are being forced to eat something that makes you ill it is not going to help your trauma.  Let's have some compassion.  Cooking a vegetarian meal for a child is simple and a lot of times less expensive than a meat based meal.

Contact PETA and each Vegan Society by state.  Start your own foundation, website, and ask for donations.

Answer 7

Special dietary needs?  That is hogwash.  There is nothing in meat that makes it a miracle food.

Vegetarian food is almost anything but meat.  Surely you have had pasta with marinara sauce or veggie stir fry?  These are not special foods..they are foods that people eat all the time.

Answer 8

If you are running an organization yourself, you could partner up with another organization such as EarthSave.

Answer 9

Vegetarian foster children? Not to be offensive, but if they're in foster care that means that they were obviously not in a good home to begin with.. any meal should be appreciated at this point. My sister works with foster-care and the problem is funding.. there's pretty much no way that they can favor these childrens on what they prefer, because they see it as they're providing shelter and food for these children by putting them in foster care, and they should be grateful for any food they receive. Anyway, for now, I guess what these families can do is provide meals themselves when grocery shopping. They don't have to go out of their way buying tofurkey... but they can buy plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and peanut butter.

EDIT: Lo_Mcg, I'm entitled to my opinion. Also, because my sister works with the foster care system, I am very aware of the situation. How dare you base your answer on a personal attack against me. I am in no way, shape or form being cruel, I am personally stating the truth of what the state see's. The state will not fund specialized diet and meals because they see that as long as the kids are provided shelter and food, that they cannot be picky about the food they eat. THIS IS NOT and I repeat, NOT my personal opinion. I'm stating the facts.. and if it is "chilling" to you, sorry but the truth hurts sometimes. Oh and P.S, don't try and tell me how or why  children are in foster care. Yes, they are put in foster care because they are not in a stabilized home. If they were, they wouldn't have to go to foster care. Most of the time foster childrens parents are drug addicts that could care less about their children, other times the children are being abused/molested/raped. I know what I am talking about. A child with a good family would not be put in foster care, so what are you talking about? And that's rhetorical, because I could care less.

Answer 10

Well if they are old enought to get a job then they could buy their own food.

Answer 11

sorry can't help

Answer 12

Sorry I can't help, but just had to comment.

''...they should be grateful for any food they receive.'' That is chilling. I bet those words were often spoken in workhouses!

Edit** Children are in foster care for a number of different reasons, not necessarily because they were in 'chaotic' or 'not very good' homes. And some children will have made the decision to go vegetarian themselves and their choices should be respected.

Hard to believe anyone still has the 'underserving poor who should be grateful for anything' attitude.

Please sir, I want some more.

Edit2** Chef B, you are extremely sensitive - and mistaken -  if you can discern any personal attack on you in what I have said. I was well aware that you were describing some organisation's attitude to children in care, and I find that organisation's attitude chilling and reminiscent of the workhouse. Where I live, that is not the attitude to children in care.

I quoted, very briefly, from two answers, one of them yours,when I said there were a number of reasons for children to be in care. And there are; I have worked with children in care so have first hand knowledge of this. A majority are there because of abuse or neglect - though why this should mean it's ok to ignore and disrespect their dietary choices I'm not sure - but others are in care because of, for example, a parent's illness or death, or a loving parent's temporary inability to cope. A little compassion wouldn't go amiss.