A kid arrived with nothing. Start here.
The placement call came, and a child walked in tonight with a garbage bag — or not even that. This is where clothing, cribs, car seats, beds, and diapers actually come from in Georgia: the allowance you're owed, the free closets that exist for exactly this, and the church network your caseworker can activate.
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.
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
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.