Safe Families – A program where families help families

A crisis can happen to any family at any time. When it does most of us have family and friends upon which we can rely. Many families, however, lack this important support system. This puts children in those families at risk for abuse and neglect. Bethany Christian Services has created a safety net for these children, The Safe Families for Children program, which helps parents experiencing a temporary crisis arrange for their children to stay with a safe, Christian, loving family until the crisis has passed.

The Safe Families program is seeking volunteers who can reach out to those in need in their community. These volunteers become Safe Families who open their homes to families in need by temporarily supporting children who are welcomed into their home. Safe Families will provide love, support, and a safe place for children during their placement and will work cooperatively with Bethany Christian Services and the crisis family to ensure a positive placement for all children involved. Safe Families will be provided with education and training to ensure that they are able and equipped to support children in their homes. Education, background checks, references, and a home visit will be conducted by a Bethany worker to prepare each family for the Safe Families for Children program.

Safe Family volunteers include single individuals, married couples with children of any age, and empty nesters, all of whom simply decided to make room in their hearts and homes for children in need. They can have a powerful impact in the lives of others while practicing biblical hospitality, extending the love of Christ to people in need, sharing their faith, and connecting with those from another culture – all from their own home! Volunteers make a direct impact on the life of a child!

Basic Information about Safe Families

*Even though Safe Families began in 2002, the Orlando program is just getting off the ground, commencing July 15, 2009.

*Safe Families is a DCF– funded Preventative program. It’s designed to keep children out of the foster care system. SF steps in and provides safe homes for children before their situation warrants removal by DCF and placement in foster care. The children and their families are able to stay out of the state system.

*SF needs 10 families by December and 25 families by July, 2110. (They currently have 2 families.)

*There are highly successful programs similar to Safe Families in other U.S. cities such as Chicago and Atlanta. The Chicago program, for example, currently has 500 volunteer families with 300 placements per year.

*One of the reasons the program is so successful is that it is totally voluntary. The in-crisis family voluntarily asks for help, as opposed to being in the program because their children were forcibly removed by the state. These in-crisis families do not want their children placed into foster care! These families know that the volunteers are participating because they care – not for money. Knowing their children will be temporarily staying with a loving, safe, back-ground -checked family while they recover from their crisis serves to eliminate some stress and worry.

*The children in this program are not in foster care, not abused, not neglected. Bethany hears about their families through:
- Referrals from the state – there is no abuse in the family, but the family is experiencing an economic hardship.
- Through partnerships with churches – people go to churches seeking help (this is how Bethany also recruits SF volunteers)
- Through crisis centers – such as pregnancy crisis centers, homeless shelters, etc.

*Some examples of in-crisis family situations:
- Single mother with cancer who needs someone to take care of her children while she gets treatment
- Parents losing their jobs and facing eviction and homelessness
- A pregnant teenager who was thrown out of her parents’ home
- Children whose mothers are undergoing drug rehabilitation

*Volunteers and in-crisis families always meet in a public place and no personal information is exchanged (unless this is something both parties want to do on their own).

*Volunteers have total discretion on the type and length of placements. Placements can range from a weekend to 3-4 months at most. Volunteers can accept or decline placements at any time, and can pick age groups of children. For example, if you have a family vacation planned during the month of July, you can decline placements during that month; or you may postpone placements during the holidays. Placements occur at the volunteers’ preference.

If you would like to learn more about Safe Families, would like a Safe Families coordinator speak to your group, church, Sunday School class, etc., or if you feel you can make a difference in a child’s life and contribute to the Safe Families program please contact Alison Schminke:
aschminke@bethany.org
407-877-4006

http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/0/3366FA3E48C61C07852574D500668B3D