VOLUNTEERING

We welcome volunteers!

Starfish is a working foster home with over 50 babies and a staff of 30 people. It is a busy place! We appreciate the work, service and love that volunteers bring to our foster home.

Volunteers are expected to roll up their sleeves and join in the work. The common denominator is that all volunteers love babies and want to help. We have short-term volunteers who stay a week and long-term volunteers who have stayed months. Single people have come and large families have spent time with us. Starfish welcomes volunteers 18 years old and older, as well as younger teens who are accompanied by a parent or guardian. Children are also welcome, but must be supervised by their parents at all times. We have volunteers from all over the world.

If you have specific skills we can certainly put them to use. You may choose to help with the baby care and/or the development activities for the toddlers and preschoolers, but we also welcome handymen of all different varieties, those with childcare and office experience. We can also use scrap bookers, handymen of all different varieties, administrative assistants, accountants, decorators, medical staff, etc.

Typical needs that are provided by volunteers include:

Holding babies and helping with feeding, changing diapers, bathing, dressing etc.
Entertaining, playing and walking with the babies.
Engaging in education and skills development with toddlers and preschoolers.
Working on babies’ health and physical development
Helping with the building maintenance and small repairs
- Let us know what your skills are so we can prepare the needed materials for your project. There are many things that we need help with!
Helping with interior design and decoration.
Helping with clerical, administrative, or computer work.
Bringing much needed donated items.

Obviously we are in great need of child care, as the children ranges from newborn to 4 years. The babies need a lot of cuddle time and very individual attention. Holding the babies is very important for their development and knowing they are loved makes all the difference in their adjustment to their forever families when they are adopted. The toddlers and preschoolers need walks, playtime, entertainment and development activities in order to develop motor skills and verbal learning.

We want this volunteering experience to be meaningful. If you involve yourself totally with the children then you are going to make memories that last a lifetime.

Please be respectful of the mission and purpose of the Starfish Foster Home.

If you are interested in finding out more about the volunteer process, you can download the Starfish Volunteer Handbook to get more detailed information on volunteering at Starfish. You can also download the Volunteer Registration Form to print from home.

Volunteer coordinators: Greg & Deborah Coffey
volunteerforstarfish@gmail.com US phone: 1-636-634-0701

You can watch this video for a short online tour at Starfish Fosterhome:

See Rising Starfish for
information on the next Starfish
baby in need of surgery

See Throwing Starfish for an
updated overview of the entire foster home’s operations

See Starfish Home for Cleft Babies
for the latest on our Cleft House babies

To find out the origin of the Starfish name, click here