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We have recently had a placement of older kids...4 and 6. (This is older for us, there have been five babies in the last year!) Anyway, I emailed the local YMCA and asked about a scholorship or discount for our foster kids so they could take tumbing and swimming lessons. The Y board read my very short email and sent us gift certificates; 1 year family membership (covers all of our temporary kids), and 4 free 7 week long classes for our current kids. I wanted to pass this on. I think it is good for every kid to learn to swim, even just for safety sake. But this could be for fun too. It seems like every other kid has specialized classes now-a-days. I thought this might help some other foster families. Jill
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My husband was the president of our local foster care support group , organized by DCS. He sent email to our YMCA to see if there was any kind of discounts we might be able to get for the foster children of our members, but we never got a response. Even after a follow up letter. I guess it depends on what state and who runs it. YMCA is a great org. and I agree, everyone should know how to swim.
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We personally have a family membership to the YMCA and when I asked I was told I just had to bring a letter from the social worker indicating they were foster children and we could add them to our membership without charge. I am not sure if I could get a free membership for them if I was not a member but I would try.
I worked for two different local YMCA's for many years. Back-a-Youth program memberships work differently at every branch depending on the amount of money they have to work with and if its close to the beginning of the membership drive year or not. Y's are supposed to run on the contigency that no one is turned away regardless of income, but I have heard stories of people not being treated as such. They do work really well with families through a monthly payment plan. I grew up at the Y and so are my kids. ~B.
Something else you can look into is if the Casey Family Program is in your area. Casey is a foundation that does many things for children and they provide scholarships and financial support for children in foster care. THey also run some summer programs. I know they are in the Pacific NW, don't know where else.