Road Trip for Foster & Adoptive Dads

Road Trip for Foster & Adoptive Dads

October 8-11, 2017 OR October 11-14, 2017
Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Are you an adoptive, foster, or safe family dad? There is something special just for you! An epic road trip with other dads who are in the trenches just like you. This is an experience you don't want to miss. 

 

Learn More

Behind the Nation's Foster Care Crisis

According to DrugRehab.com, America’s opioid epidemic has caused a surge in foster care admissions, overwhelming the child welfare system. Parents who use drugs are unable to care for their children. These children are at risk of developing substance use disorders. But with support from the child welfare system, health care providers and drug courts, parents and children can receive the help they need to achieve a healthy, happy family life.

At 22 years old, Deidre was using drugs, stealing and had already lost custody of her son. Then pregnant with her second child and struggling with depression, she turned to a family support program for help.

“I have regrets and I sincerely miss my oldest son, who was adopted several years ago. I […] wish I could do it all over again and be the mother to him that I am to [my second son] now,” Deidre told Healthy Families Florida.

Deidre’s oldest son is one of the nearly 428,000 children in foster care.

According to the 2015 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 32 percent of these children came from a drug-abusing parent and 6 percent from an alcohol-abusing parent.

Continue reading HERE.

Chicago Area Families For Adoption Picnic!

Join us for the 2017 CAFFA Family Picnic! This will be a great opportunity to meet other adoptive families in our communities. CAFFA members and non-members are welcome. Event will take place rain or shine.

Saturday, August 12 @ 11:30 am - 2:30 pm

Lunch will be offered from 12:00 - 1:00 pm.

 Event will take place rain or shine at

Churchill Woods – Glen Ellyn St. Charles Rd. west of Route 53.

 

Registration Info:

​

Registration for this event is $10.00 per person (children 3 and under are

free). The fee will cover the pavilion rental and the cost of lunch. Final food order will be placed the first week of August therefore registration will close on August 1st, 2017. No refunds will be issued after this date.

For Questions or Comments, please contact social_claudia@caffa.org

For more information click HERE

Chicago Area Families for Adoption

15 Ways to Be a Foster Care Friendly Church

www.lifesongfororphans.org

Foster kids need the church. Foster families need the church.

Here are 15 ways to be a foster care friendly church–

Teach

1. Educate, educate, educate. Host informational meetings for would-be foster parents, but also for members of the church family who simply want to learn more about foster care.
2. Add foster care discussion to existing (paid/volunteer) staff training. Many children who come from hard places have unique challenges and behaviors that require extra love and patience from those in authority.
3. Host foster care licensing opportunities on campus. Open these classes to church families and members of the community. Not only is this decision helpful to the local foster care agency, but it sends a clear signal to foster families that your church will support their efforts to foster.

Provide

1. Organize meal trains for new placements. If your church family provides meals to new moms, be sure to include foster parents in this ministry. Though foster parents haven’t given birth with each placement, their hands are full and their hearts and minds are exhausted.
2. Provide help with with errands. Heading to the store? Call and see if you can pick anything up for a foster family in your church. Not having to load kids in the car to make an extra trip could be a huge blessing.
3. Maintain a supply closet (or room!) Maintain space in the church where church members can donate beds, clothes, cribs, diapers, furniture, and other items that could be used by foster families. Assign a church member or small group the task of collecting and sorting donations to ensure the items are good quality and easily accessible.

Pray

1. Make consistent, encouraging contact. Quick calls or texts go a long way in encouraging families who are doing the daily work of loving and caring for the fatherless. Especially on important days (such as court cases or parental visits), let the family know you care and are praying for them.
2. Invite families to participate in dedicatory prayers. Pray for families who are starting the foster care process. Publicly commit to support them as a church body.  
3. Put foster families on the church prayer sheet. As we remember to pray for families in the church who are facing deep personal trials or challenges, let’s not neglect to pray for families caring for kids in need.

Assist

1. Offer childcare. Check with local foster families to see what the current requirements are for babysitting children in foster care. If certification is necessary (or helpful), encourage families to pursue it by hosting a certification class at the church.
2. Help with seasonal tasks. Offer to help with yard cleanup, gutter work, snow removal, etc., This can be a huge value to busy families.
3. Support local foster care agencies and workers. Build relationships with key foster care leaders in the area. Ask them how you can help. Invite them to a special dinner or service. Send notes of encouragement. Do a donation drive to collect supplies they need.

Care

1. Include all children in regular church activities. Be careful not to distinguish children who are adopted or being fostered from children in biological families. This can be terribly hurtful to children and parents. Invite all children to all church events, even if that means tailoring activities to the needs of specific kids.
2. Listen. Foster families will typically answer your questions honestly if you ask them how they feel and what they need and how you can best minister to their kids.
3. Tell foster children and families that they are welcome, cherished, and needed in the church family. (And then tell them again!) 

State Trends in Child Well-Being

 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book

State Trends in Child Well-Being

By the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Project

 
The 2017 KIDS COUNT Data Book urges policymakers not to back away from targeted investments that help U.S. children become healthier, more likely to complete high school and better positioned to contribute to the nation’s economy as adults. The Data Book also shows the child poverty rate in 2015 continued to drop, landing at 21%. In addition, children experienced gains in reading proficiency and a significant increase in the number of kids with health insurance. However, the data indicate that unacceptable levels of children living in poverty and in high-poverty neighborhoods persist.  Get all the state-by-state data HERE.

4 Kids, 3 Churches, 2 Chronic Illnesses

A single divorced mom of 4 was in crisis. Due to 2 chronic illnesses, she was in desperate need of more intensive medical treatment before she became any sicker. 

Several times a year, she would end up in the ER and friends would help care for her kids. Her doctors recommended that she undergo an experimental treatment. But she kept putting it off due to the unknown time treatment period of 2 - 6 months. She knew her friends wouldn't be able to help care for her children for that extended period of time and unfortunately, she couldn't rely on the children's father due to turmoil between them.

And that's where the Safe Families community stepped in!

Through the combined help of 3 churches, she was able to receive help with meals, transportation and her children were hosted and cared for. Mom was able to get the treatment she needed and became healthy enough to come back home to her kids. And their father even got involved and took the kids every weekend.

The host family developed such a great relationship with both parents that everyone attended the host family's daughter's birthday party!

With continued support, mom was able to attend and complete beauty school. And during that time she met a wonderful Christian man whom she married a year later. This is all because she received biblical hospitality from 'strangers' and had a safe place for all her kids to go so she could heal.

This is just one story that illustrates what biblical hospitality looks like. It's stories like these that exemplify why we do what we do. Be encouraged that your work is not in vain. 

Families are restored, children are loved and hearts are transformed!

Click here to GET INVOLVED!