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A kid arrived with nothing. Start here.
How this collection works
Every organization below carries a verified date and links to its own site. Where we couldn't confirm a detail — or know a category exists but haven't vetted it — we say so instead of guessing. None of these require the child to have been with you longer than a day.
Start tonight: the money side
Before you spend your own, know what the system owes the child — and what one phone call can authorize.
- Ask for the initial clothing allowance — by name, in writing. Georgia policy authorizes a one-time, age-based clothing allowance when a child enters care, separate from your per diem. It expires after six months and does not re-authorize when a child moves between homes, so raise it the week the child arrives. Verified Jul 2, 2026 · PAMMS 9.1 Full details: our clothing allowance guide.
- Ask what your agency or county can authorize right now. Counties and private agencies (CPAs) often have discretionary funds, gift cards, or on-hand donations for emergency placements — but there's no published statewide menu, so the working question is: "The child arrived with nothing. What can you authorize or provide tonight, and what do I need to document?" Get any answer in an email.
We use this box for something we couldn't confirm with an official source, or that is changing. See it on our list of everything we're still confirming
Allowance dollar amounts: not yet published
The allowance and its rules are in DFCS policy, but the current age-based dollar amounts aren't published in any official source we can cite — so we won't print a number. Ask your case manager for the current figure for your child's age group and get it in writing. The guide will show the table, with a verified date, the moment DFCS confirms it. Checked Jul 2, 2026 — awaiting DFCS confirmation
The big closets: free clothing and gear, statewide
Two Georgia nonprofits exist precisely for the kid-arrived-with-nothing moment. Both are free, and neither requires the allowance to be exhausted first.
Foster Care Support Foundation (FCSF)
NonprofitFamilies "shop" the Roswell distribution center for free — like-new and new clothing (socks and underwear always brand new), seasonal wardrobes, toys, books, school supplies, and infant care equipment. Serves DFCS and private-agency foster homes, relative and kinship care, fictive kin, and grandparents raising grandchildren — plus youth who aged out, for two years after exit.
- Call for an appointment: (770) 641-9591
- 115 Mansell Place, Roswell, GA 30076
- In-person if you're within about an hour's drive / metro Atlanta; mail order or pickup for Georgia homes farther out
- Free car seats for eligible relative-care families (per their services page — call to confirm current availability for your situation)
- Eligibility note: their site lists receiving "zero to base per diem or comparable SSI" — ask when you call
The Bloom Closet (Bloom)
NonprofitA free "store" run by Bloom (Bloom Our Youth, Inc.) where foster children and at-risk birth families shop at no cost: youth clothing, pajamas, shoes, socks, underwear, toiletries, books, toys, and school supplies. Storefronts in Fayetteville and Rome, with quarterly visit appointments.
- Fayetteville appointments: 770-461-7020
- Rome appointments: 706-465-5558 ext. 518
- Bloom Closet Express — a mobile boutique truck that travels the state as a pop-up closet
The need is specific? Your caseworker can post it.
When what you need is one crib, one twin bed, or one week of size-4 diapers, a real-time request often beats a closet trip.
Promise686 · Care Communities & CarePortal
NonprofitPromise686 equips Georgia church teams to wrap around foster families with meals, babysitting, and practical help (Care Communities) — and it is the Georgia implementer of CarePortal, a platform where DFCS and agency caseworkers post a family's concrete need and local churches respond, often within days.
- The CarePortal pathway runs through professionals: ask your caseworker or agency to post the need — a bed, a crib, specific clothing sizes — rather than applying yourself
- Promise686: 770-274-6560 · 5300 Triangle Parkway, Suite 202, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092
- You can also request a Care Community for your family — or ask your own church to start one
Car seats and cribs: the one place "free" has rules
Community practice from veteran foster parents — safety guidance, not DFCS policy.
Never accept a used car seat with an unknown history
A car seat that has been in a crash, is past its expiration date, or is missing its labels and manual can't be trusted — and with a donated seat you usually can't rule any of that out. Take used clothing, toys, and books gladly; for the car seat, get one that's new or from a source that can vouch for its history (FCSF's car seat program, your agency, or a hospital/health-department program). The same caution applies to drop-side or secondhand cribs of unknown age: if you can't verify it meets current safety standards, ask your agency or a closet for one that does. When in doubt, tell your case manager the child needs a seat or crib — that's an authorizable, postable need, not an imposition.
What we haven't verified yet
We use this box for something we couldn't confirm with an official source, or that is changing. See it on our list of everything we're still confirming
These categories exist — we just haven't confirmed the details
Georgia has more free-stuff channels than this page lists: county-level foster closets (many county DFCS offices and local ministries keep one), diaper banks, and donation-driven groups like Atlanta Children's Foundation. We know they're out there, but we haven't verified names, hours, and phone numbers well enough to publish — and a wrong address at 9 p.m. with a new placement is worse than no listing.
If you use a closet or diaper bank we should list, tell us about it — a person will verify it and add it with a dated badge. That's how this collection grows.
Sources & verification
- DFCS policy manual (PAMMS) §9.1 — initial clothing allowance rulespamms.dhs.ga.gov Jul 2, 2026
- Foster Care Support Foundation — services, eligibility, appointment & mail-order access, car seatsfostercares.org Jul 2, 2026
- Bloom — Bloom Closet locations, items, appointment lines, Bloom Closet Expressbloomfosters.org Jul 2, 2026
- Promise686 — Care Communities, CarePortal implementation for Georgia, contactpromise686.org Jul 2, 2026
This page summarizes what each organization publishes, in plain language. Inventory changes daily at donation-driven closets — call before you drive. If today is well past our verified date, tell us what's changed.
Tonight's placement can't wait for a webpage.
Foster Care Support Foundation clothes children in foster, kinship, and relative care across Georgia — call for an appointment or, if you're far from Roswell, ask about mail order.