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Kaitlyn Black - Senior, Psychology Major

Kayla Gerry - Sophomore, Psychology Major

Keira Martin - Junior, Public History major

Alicia Moser - Senior, Christian Ministries Major

Olivia Snyder - Sophomore, Elementary Education

Anna Woods - Freshman, Youth Ministry Major

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People Involved:

Parents: facing crisis & are in need for stable/safe environment for children for short timespan

Children: need temporary home so they are not at risk for neglect or abuse

Host Families: alleviate the problem and provide safe environment for children so parents can overcome challenges

Family Friends: another option where children can go to a nurturing environment while family seek support

Support members (Family Coach's): trained staff to help support parents and build coping mechanisms when facing challenges

Church & Community Support: help identify the problem & work to support the family

Emphasis: Safe Families is NOT a foster care or adoption service

https://safefamilies.org/involvement/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20several%20million%20children,a%20part%20of%20the%20solution?

https://safe-families.org/get help/childwelfare/#:~:text=We%20help%20parents%20in%20crisis,and%20keep%20their%20families%20intact.

Economic:

2023 Data shows neglect as the primary reason associated with removal in 62% of cases

Studies show that children from households with fewer resources are three times as likely to be substantiated for abuse and about seven times more likely to be substantiated for neglect than other children

The child welfare system response often is not effective at distinguishing between intentional harm (such as a refusal to provide food and water for one’s child) and harm resulting from a lack of access to adequate food, housing, and other material resources

Helping families address basic needs is an effective way to prevent child maltreatment and involvement with child welfare

A huge part of effectively providing economic supports is offering an opportunity to learn, to connect with resources that can help a family plan for the future

https://www.casey.org/economic-supports-research/#:~:text=Studies%20show%20that%20supporting%20families,child%20and%20family%20well%2Dbeing.

Social:

"On any given day, approximately 400,000 children, disproportionately poor and of color, are living in state-run foster care systems in the United States" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016, The AFCARS Report).

Some harms these children suffer are caused not by individual actors but by the foster care systems themselves:

Placement instability

Inappropriate use of group facilities and institutions

Failure to nurture strong connections with biological families (birth parents)

About 55,000 children in American foster care reside in congregate care (group homes, residential treatment facilities, psychiatric institutions, or emergency shelters)

41% of children placed in congregate care had no documented clinical need for such a placement. When unnecessarily placed in congregate care, placements can cause physical and non-physical harm to children in foster care.

Source: "Violence Against Children: Making Human Rights Real" Edited by Gertrud Lenzer

“About 35% of American adolescents live without one of their parents, and around 40% of American children are born outside of marriage.”

Family breakdown, which is a major contributing factor to the need for foster care, also “fuels poverty,” making upward social mobility very difficult. Researchers David Autor and David Figlio found that “neighborhoods and schools are less important than the ‘direct effect of family structure itself.’”

Source: https://ifstudies.org/blog/family-breakdown-and-americas-welfare-system

Human Impact:

https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/safe-families-foster-care-preventive-helps-families-in-need#:~:text=In%2016%20years%20of%20supporting,on%20average%2C%20is%2045%20days.

Short-term care options for a family average of 45 days in Safe Families

Encourage the "village," using Family coaches to change short-term foster care family work

https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5272&context=faculty_scholarship

It helps incarcerated parents maintain parental rights. Termination of parental rights given: 92.9 percent of the cases in which the mother was incarcerated, and 91.4 percent of the incarcerated fathers if both parents were incarcerated 100% of the time rights were taken.

https://cafo.org/foster-care-statistics/

only 3% receive kinship care

13% of children in foster care from 3-4 years, 7% spent 5 years

30-50% of families decide to quit

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Get Involved - Safe Families for Children

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Get Involved Every year, several million children in the U.S. find themselves living in a home overwhelmed by a crisis.…Read More

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What are the feelings associated with the problem?

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What are the feelings associated with the problem?

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Foster care can be an extremely scary, confusing, and disruptive situation for a child -- it creates significant change that is unusual for young children.

Foster parents may be intimidated or unsure, but organizations like Safe Families work to bring hope, guidance, and security amidst challenges with the foster care system.

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Knowledge before engagement:

Must be at least 25 years old, emotionally and financially stable, mature, law abiding, healthy, and active

Must be willing to engage in a long-term friendship with a family in need, agree to not use drugs, and refrain from using profanity or engaging in other negative behavior that may impact a child

Preparation:

Must complete training and pass a background check

Helpful Training:

All Host Families are required to complete the Safe Families training. This can be done online or in person in your community

Resources, Podcasts, Exemplars:

Safe Families Website

SOS Podcast, Adoption Foster Kinship: Creating a Family Podcast

Laura Leigh Safe Families Area Director

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How does this work fulfill God's calling and as a way to bring right relationships?

All solved through healthy & growing relationships

Life is a river and raising kids is a river, we can look at where we stand to help along the way in that river

Never want to hurt in relationships

be at the same level of what families can offer

How is it restorative:

Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8)

Made to be in community and build one another up

How is it the work of Christians?

Called to be brave & encourage the church to be brave

Called to let the Holy Spirit work within us & through us

How will we do it differently because of the view of Biblical Theism?

Imago Dei: everyone has inherent worth and dignity (including children and parents in tough situations)

Called to love our neighbors

Have a calling to care for those who are struggling (Isaiah 1:17 James 1:28)

Helping those in need is serving God (Matthew 25:35-40)

"Safe families and the Church Podcast" Cite

"Keeping Families Together" The Ridge Community Church Podcast

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https://www.casey.org/economic-supports-research/#:~:text=Studies%20show%20that%20supporting%20families,child%20and%20family%20well%2Dbeing.

https://safe-families.org/

https://www.familyhope.info/

https://cafo.org/foster-care-statistics/

https://bettertogetherus.org/

https://www.saltyfamilyservices.org/

https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5272&context=faculty_scholarship

https://ifstudies.org/blog/family-breakdown-and-americas-welfare-system

https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/safe-families-foster-care-preventive-helps-families-in-need#:~:text=In%2016%20years%20of%20supporting,on%20average%2C%20is%2045%20days

"Violence Against Children: Making Human Rights Real" Edited by Gertrud Lenzer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUVSuLKoIUE&t=3s

https://ivy.fm/podcast/discover-christian-church-367000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEY3Cmnk7qo

https://padlet.com/mikaylagerry/safe-families-and-family-hope-ovc-110-dr-sisson-s2025-1zxlopkl1oitw3mu/wish/jpoxaj4pxxkPZbPE

https://cafo.org/foster-care-statistics/

https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5272&context=faculty_scholarship

https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/safe-families-foster-care-preventive-helps-families-in-need#:~:text=In%2016%20years%20of%20supporting,on%20average%2C%20is%2045%20days.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/14DJLa2tRSiqnBbBeu3m1s?si=Qvt8j8W1RJqY5DpTF_8kTw&nd=1&dlsi=64fe0a2d0b5546a5

https://handsofhopein.org/get-your-church-involved/

https://youtu.be/GVmqeWfHyzI

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We surround families in crisis with caring, compassionate community. Safe Families for Children is a movement fueled by compassion to keep children safe and families intact. We temporarily host children and provide a network of support to families in crisis while they get back on their feet.

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"Safe Families" - Mission Moments Ep. 20 (Anna Woods)

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"Safe Families" - Mission Moments Ep. 20 (Anna Woods)

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Safe Families provides support for foster families (such as meal trains, text chain if you need anything, etc.)

Even parents with good Christian backgrounds have struggles & often need this kind of support

Volunteer roles: People who donate food & gift cards for host families (resource friends), some who give rides or provide childcare (family friends), people who work with more structure that can provide further resources for struggling parents – often retired educators or social workers (coaches)

It’s easy to get discouraged & overwhelmed in all of this – it's heavy work, & it requires a lot of trust toward God

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"Safe Families" - Mission Moments Ep. 20

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Interviewing Laura Leigh the Milwaukee Area Director of Safe Families

Gives insights on what Safe Families is, what it does, the impact it has on both the family in need and the host family

"Keeping children safe and keeping families together"

Making families out of friendship

I would recommend this podcast. It gives a great overview of Safe Families and the benefit of being involved with this organization

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Podcast: Keeping Families Together | Interview with Safe Families Area Director Laura Leigh

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Some personal stories and positive interactions that foster parents had, also some challenges they faced and common misconceptions about foster care.

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Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

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What Foster Care Alumni Want You to Know

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Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

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Key Points:

Separation of church & state = systems created that care for kids instead of the church

church's were no longer responsible for local orphans

Concept: “what if we stopped child abuse before it started and what if we stood at the front door of child welfare and helped families before abuse occurred” (time: 10:05)

90% of all the child abuse calls that America gets do not move forward into help

Young adults were more vulnerable if they were raised in foster care

human trafficking, early unwed pregnancies, drug abuse, & homelessness

Staff, government, and people cannot raise children like families can

Safe families: ask ordinary neighbors to love families that are struggling and take care of kids for a while, while families take time to get on their feet

No legal involved

Church = build relationships

No host families host on their own (community involvement)

How can I serve: how can I meet the needs of people I am ministering too

All solved through relationship

Love covers a multitude of sins

In relationship you never want to hurt

Invite the church to be brave & let the Holy Spirit work in you

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Safe Families and the Church with Karen Bergstrom

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The podcast focused on "seeing families safe and strong." The two women, leading a chapter in Canada, focused on "member[s] using their gifts and capacities to strengthen the family unit." Their main goal is to surround families in crisis with a caring, compassionate community. They reflected on their relationships and how that affects how they can pour out well. To prepare to pour out, we need to have healthy, safe care habits and a safe community.

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Season 9: SOS Podcast Ep. 4 Are All Families Safe with Natalie Vanderlaan & Heather Vanderkruk

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"Children at Risk with CCHO and Safe Families" Weekly Teaching from Discover Christian Church - Nov. 17, 2019 (Kayla Gerry)

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"Children at Risk with CCHO and Safe Families" Weekly Teaching from Discover Christian Church - Nov. 17, 2019 (Kayla Gerry)

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This church sermon recording had two interviews with representatives of the Safe Families and Christian Children's Home of Ohio (CCHO) organizations. In both interviews, the organizations were introduced and their purposes and goals were explained. Both focus on giving resources to children and families in need - whether that means housing them temporarily, helping parents with resumés, giving therapy resources, or simply loving them. The speakers told different stories and outlined what they do specifically, but ended with advice for how the church can become involved in these spheres - by speaking love into the marginalized, by praying, by volunteering, and by donating money, time, help, or resources. The sermon was fun to listen to, but is probably not the most informative or professional if you want a more comprehensive view of these organizations.

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Podcast by Discover Christian Church. Weekly teaching and other items from Discover Christian Church, Dublin, Ohio

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Salty Family Services (Ormand Beach, FL)

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Lifeline Children's Services

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