Voices has historically only purchased items and services for children, but it became clear that more children would enter foster care unnecessarily without assistance for safe, loving aunts, uncles and grandparents who took custody of children and kept them out of foster care. Voices is proud to work with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and community partners to provide emergency assistance with child care and other bills to make sure children don’t enter foster care during COVID-19 for financial reasons. The investigators of the Sheriff’s Office identify and vet households in need of support. Since this is a special project, these expenses are exclusively funded through grant writing and donations made specifically for this project. Thanks to United Way Suncoast, The Rays Baseball Foundation and Rowdies Soccer Fund, and the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, we have provided assistance to keep 95 children out of foster care since March!  In October, Voices will begin providing assistance in Pasco thanks to United Way of Pasco County!

Since late May, Voices has been teaming up with Glory Days (Odessa and Wesley Chapel) and United Way of Pasco County to provide 400-500 meals each week to children and families who are involved in the child welfare system through contact-free meal pickup for Eckerd Connects.  Each week, families pick up meals like grilled chicken, barbeque and meatloaf along with a vegetable and a starch for each member of the household.  For some homes with over 14 children, it’s an especially big help.  Our other partners like Safe At Home and Guardian ad Litem Program volunteers have picked up meals to deliver to families in need of food assistance but who are without transportation.  Some staff members regularly bring over 40 meals to 8 or more families.  As of the end of September, the program has provided about 8,000 meals.

Voices has also provided over 100 households with food assistance with Ready for Life to support young adults who were previously in foster care and have had their hours cut and are taking care of their own children.  Box meals with cooking instructions have been provided to households that can’t make it to meal pickup locations.

Since March, Voices has provided over 100 children and young adults in foster care with laptops and tablets to participate in school and online tutoring programs while they can’t attend in person. Thanks to the Arthur Family Foundation for their support of laptops for young adults who aged out of foster care!  Here are some mentors from Friends of the Children of Tampa Bay visiting with our tablets:

While Voices has always provided diapers, wipes, formula and other childcare essentials within the Sheriff’s Offices, the need for these items has increased significantly since this March, particularly for quarantined households.  Since March, Voices has provided over 500 children with pack n’ plays, diapers, wipes, formula and more from the Sheriff’s Offices.  Thanks to United Way of Pasco County, Voices has been able to provide a kit of cleaning supplies and paper products to more than 80 households in Pasco delivered by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office’s Child Protection Division and, thanks to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Connection Program, Voices will provide 300 more children with diapers in the coming months.