GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — This season is a time where many want to be able to give the gift of giving back. Well, one local organization is asking for your help with that in a more unique way.

“None of us are given manuals when we have children, birth children. None of us are giving manuals when we adopt,” said Deborah Artis, the program director for Foster Care, Adoption & Post-Adoption programs.

It’s a statement those with the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina want people to know. The non-profit works hard to not only provide stability for children and teens in need of help but also education for foster and birth parents.

“One of our main focuses is our foster care and adoption programs. We work with all 100 counties of the DSS agencies, we partner with them very closely,” said Artis.

Artis said they work hard to make sure these children get the tools they need to hopefully be able to reconnect with their families.

If you or someone you know would like to get involved in some of the programs the Children’s Home Society has to offer, click here.

“Our goal is to provide that temporary placement for children so that they hopefully can return to their birth parents or another relative in their birth family,” Artis said. “If that goal is not able to be met, then our second goal is to make sure that that child can remain in that foster home.”

When looking at how the kids end up in the foster care system to start with, Artis mentions it comes after the state has to step into their living situation.

“When social services step in and remove custody from their birth parents or their birth family, then they’re calling us for resources,” said Artis.

Open communication is also key. The foster and birth parents keep open lines with one another to make sure everyone is on the same page.

“A lot of communication is shared between the foster parents and the birth parents to say ‘This is how we’re parenting your child while they’re in our home. And this is what works.’”

Artis notes that through the help of foster and adoptive parents, these children will carry an impact that will last a lifetime.

“What I say to foster parents is remember that regardless of whether a child spends one hour, one day, 365 days in your life, you have made an impact on them, you have changed their life in some way,” said Artis.