Support for Our Community During COVID-19: Birth Families

To help mitigate some of the challenges that the children and families of our community are facing, Spence-Chapin is providing critical supplies and support services that are especially needed during this time. Here, our social workers share how meaningful these services have been to the birth families they serve. To learn more about how to contribute to this campaign, please visit spence-chapin.org/donate.

Spence-Chapin social workers stay in contact with many of our Birth Parents even after they have placed their child for adoption or decided to parent. So, when Spence-Chapin decided to support our birth families during the COVID-19 crisis, our social workers knew exactly who to reach out to first.

“There are women we serve who are homeless, are unemployed, are parenting many children with little income, and for whom the COVID-19 pandemic could turn a difficult situation into a crisis very quickly.  Providing these families with even a little support during this time can make a big difference in their day-to-day lives,” said Michelle Monastero, a Birth Parent Services & Outreach social worker.

The Birth Parent Services & Outreach team was overwhelmed by the gratitude expressed by the families to whom they offered grocery store gift cards.

“They were just so appreciative,” Mary McCabe, Associate Director of Birth Parent Services & Outreach for Long Island and New Jersey, explained. “One woman kept asking me how long she had to pay me back—she just couldn’t believe that we would be giving out the gift cards. It was so touching.”

What struck Leslie Nobel, Associate Director of Birth Parent Services & Outreach for New York, about the calls to families was just how concerned these women were about their financial situations. “They were worried about the next meal for their children, where they would be spending the night, and how they could find work. Some families had been relying on the food provided by schools to help them feed their children, and with that gone, they didn’t know how to provide for them. Being able to purchase groceries was really important to them.”

Spence-Chapin is proud to support our community in this way. If you are able, we hope that you can join us by making a contribution to help up continue to provide this much needed support to the children and families we serve.  Thank you.