 As summer winds down, families are preparing for the excitement (and chaos!) of a new school year. New backpacks, school supplies, teachers, sports schedules, and routines are filling calendars across Colorado.
For foster, adoptive, and kinship families, though, back-to-school season can bring more than just busy schedules. Children who have experienced trauma may be navigating a new school, new classmates, academic gaps, or anxiety about another transition. What feels exciting for some children can feel overwhelming for others. The good news? Small acts of support can make a big difference. If you're part of a Support Team, here are a few simple ways you can help your family start the school year well. Help with School Supplies School shopping adds up quickly. Share information about local school supply drives, sales, or community resources. If it feels appropriate, offer to pick up a few items or invite the family to shop with you. Offer Homework Support Many children in foster care have experienced interruptions in their education. If you enjoy reading, math, science, or another subject, consider offering to help with homework or studying during the first few weeks of school. Encourage Kids (and Parents!) The beginning of the school year can be exciting and stressful all at once. A handwritten note for a lunchbox, a quick text to the parents, or simply reminding a child you're cheering them on can provide encouragement during a season of change. Stock the Pantry Busy evenings often leave little time for grocery shopping. Drop off healthy snacks, easy breakfast items, or lunchbox favorites to help lighten the load during those first hectic weeks. Protect Their Story As families reconnect with neighbors, teachers, and friends, questions about foster care sometimes come up. Remember that every child's story belongs to them. One of the best ways to support a family is by honoring their privacy and allowing them to share only what they're comfortable sharing. Offer Practical Help Back-to-school calendars fill up quickly with open houses, sports practices, appointments, and school events. Offering childcare for siblings, bringing dinner one evening, running an errand, or helping with transportation can ease some of that pressure. Continue Learning About Trauma-Informed Care Transitions can be especially difficult for children who have experienced trauma. Behaviors may increase as routines change and new expectations are introduced. Continuing to grow in trauma-informed care allows you to respond with empathy, patience, and grace while encouraging the caregivers you support. You Can Make a Difference You don't have to solve every challenge a family faces. Often, it's the consistent, everyday acts of kindness that remind parents they aren't carrying the weight alone. As children head back to school, your encouragement can help create the stability, belonging, and hope that every child deserves. Thank you for walking alongside foster, adoptive, and kinship families and helping them start another school year feeling supported. By Jenny Watson, Director of Communication and Development
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 Creating a "Soothing Through the Senses" kit is a powerful, practical way to support children in foster and adoptive homes. Children often face unique challenges such as trauma, grief, and separation, they may struggle to self-regulate when faced with environmental or emotional triggers. A calm-down kit serves as an essential tool to help them reset, center themselves, and feel safe.
A calm-down kit is not a reward or a distraction; it is a therapeutic tool designed to help a child process overwhelming emotions. When a child is dysregulated, whether due to a sensory overload or an emotional trigger, their brain may be stuck in a "survival mode" (fight, flight, freeze, or fawn). By engaging their senses, you help them shift from that survival state back to the thinking part of their brain. Here are some examples to include:
What is Pleasing to Their Brain The true magic of these kits lies in personalization. Because every child’s sensory needs are unique, allow the child to help build their own kit. This ownership builds trust and security.
By providing these tools, you are giving children a physical way to navigate their big emotions. A kit is not just a collection of toys; it is a reminder that they have control over regulating and calming their brains through their senses. By Dr. Lisa Marr, Family Connections Manager  While most people celebrate a new year in January, here at Project 1.27 we're celebrating a different kind of new beginning, our new fiscal year. For us, July marks the start of a fresh ministry season filled with renewed vision, new opportunities, and expectant hope for what God will do in the months ahead. There is something beautiful about new beginnings. They invite us to pause, reflect on God's faithfulness, and recommit ourselves to the calling He has placed before us. Every child welcomed into a safe family, every foster or adoptive parent encouraged, every church that says "yes" to caring for vulnerable children, and every young adult who discovers they are not alone is evidence of God's ongoing work through this ministry. As we begin this new ministry year, one area of growing excitement is New Ground, our mentoring program for young adults aging out of foster care. For many youth, turning 18 doesn't simply mean celebrating a birthday, it can mean stepping into adulthood without the lifelong support system that so many of us take for granted. New Ground exists to change that story. Through intentional, Christ-centered mentoring relationships, we're walking alongside young adults as they navigate education, employment, housing, relationships, and the everyday challenges of becoming independent. We often say that every young person deserves someone who knows their name, celebrates their birthday, believes in their future, and walks with them through life's milestones. That's exactly what New Ground is building: consistent, caring relationships that remind young adults they are seen, valued, and never alone. As we look ahead, we are filled with gratitude and dream big. Thank you for praying, giving, volunteering, advocating, and standing with Project 1.27. Your partnership makes this ministry possible, and together we are helping children, families, and young adults experience hope and belonging. Here's to a new ministry year. May we continue saying "yes" where God leads, trusting that He will accomplish immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. Happy New Year from all of us at Project 1.27! "God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” Ephesians 3:20 MSG By Jenny Bender, Executive Director
 As a trainer for Project 1.27, I regularly teach through 1 Corinthians 13 on the topic of Love in the Context of Foster Care. In verse 5 of that chapter, Paul instructs the Corinthians that “love is not rude.” I think this instruction is an important one for us to consider as we, like the Corinthians, can be prone to rudeness.
When I think of the concept of rudeness, the picture that comes to mind, at least for me, is the middle school boy. If you have experience with middle school boys like I do (I have a son and I used to be a teacher), you know what I mean. After a while, the fart noises, pranks, and constant “6-7” or mewing start to get old. The stereotypical middle school boy just lacks the ability to tune in to the needs or desires of the people around them, or they lack the maturity to really care. At root, this is essentially what rudeness is. It’s the inability or refusal to be tuned in to the needs of those around us, often in unseemly or improper ways. This lack of awareness is not unique to middle schoolers, and I think Paul addresses an important aspect of rudeness earlier in this very letter to the Corinthians. In chapter 11, Paul addresses some rudeness that was occurring around the church’s practice of the Lord’s Table. In the passage, Paul talks about the ways that as the church gathered and ate together, some were showing up early and eating all the food, so that some of the people who needed it most were going away hungry. He tells them, if they are really hungry, to eat at home before they show up, because it was a shameful thing to send a brother or sister away without the sustenance they needed. Some of the people were failing to live according to the gospel, because they were out of tune with the needs of the people around them. A deep understanding of the gospel requires us to be in tune to the needs of the people around us. Passages like Matthew 25:31-46 and James 1:27 (and many others) emphasize God’s special care for the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and the refugee or immigrant. Yet so often, as we gather together as Christians, it is easy for the vulnerable and the marginalized to become afterthoughts to the programs we design. What might it look like to avoid rudeness by thinking intentionally about caring for those most at risk of missing out on the blessings of God’s kingdom? Align your ministry metrics - What current metrics do you measure as a church? Most churches keep track of things like membership, attendance, baptisms, etc. Are you measuring the care you provide to the poor and the vulnerable? Aligning the metrics that we measure to the heart of God forces us to evaluate ourselves along the lines of pure religion. Audit your programs - Would a homeless individual or a child in foster care feel comfortable gathering together with you during your services? In your children’s programs, are your workers trained on how to deal with a child who has experienced trauma? Does your church, as a regular cultural practice, talk and sing about caring for the marginalized? Auditing our programs helps us find areas where we may have created barriers to entry, and it allows us to fix them to better reflect the inclusive heart of God. Organize effectively - Is your church organized and intentional around care for the people in your community who need it most? A church in my area has a Justice Team that meets once a month to discuss the needs of the poor and vulnerable in their community and organizes people to provide food, clothing, and service to individuals and organizations that are caring well for the vulnerable. Organizing around service shows just how serious we are about the gospel’s demands. We want to see church communities demonstrate Christ’s love by tuning in to the needs of the people in their communities, especially the most vulnerable. And Project 1.27 wants to help you accomplish this, through trauma-informed training events, providing meals through the Neighbor Program, signing up to mentor a young person aging out of foster care through our New Ground mentoring program, or encouraging people in the church to consider becoming foster parents. By Mark Gomez  After 97 foster children, here’s what I’ve learned about fatherhood. The first time a child walks into your home with everything they own stuffed into a trash bag, you don’t forget it. You don’t forget the look on their face. You don’t forget the silence. You don’t forget knowing that, at least for that night, your home may be the safest place they have. My wife, Lisa, and I have been foster parents for more than 22 years. During that time, 97 children have come through our home. We have adopted five of them. Some stayed for a short time. Some stayed much longer. Every one of them mattered. As Father's Day passes, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a dad. For many men, fatherhood feels like something you are supposed to have figured out. You provide. You protect. You teach. You show up. But when it comes to foster care, many good men hesitate. They wonder if they have what it takes. They worry about getting too attached, saying the wrong thing, or not being enough. I understand that fear. But kids in foster care do not need perfect dads. They need steady ones. They need men who will sit at the dinner table, toss a ball in the yard, drive them to school, help with homework, or simply be present when life feels uncertain. They need men who can be calm when they are scared, patient when they are angry, and consistent when everything else has changed. That kind of fatherhood matters more than most people realize.  In my professional life, I work as a therapist and as a co-responder with the Sheriff’s Office. I often meet people in crisis. People struggling with chronic mental health challenges, substance use, homelessness, trauma, or repeated involvement with the justice system.
Over time, you start to see patterns. Not always, but often, there is a story underneath the crisis: childhood instability, neglect, abuse, loss, or abandonment. A story of a young person who did not have enough safe adults around when it mattered most. I have often wondered how many lives might have been different if someone had stepped in earlier. If one safe family had opened the door. If one steady dad had shown up. If one child had experienced, even for a season, what it feels like to belong. Foster care is not easy. Children enter foster care because something painful has happened. They may be confused, angry, withdrawn, anxious, or grieving. They may not know how to trust. They may test limits because limits have not always been safe or consistent. But that is exactly why foster parents matter. A foster home is not just a roof and a bed. It is a place where a child can begin to breathe again. A place where they can learn that adults can be safe, meals can be predictable, birthdays can be remembered, and bedtime can come without fear. For dads especially, the role is powerful. You do not have to be a superhero. You do not have to have all the answers. You do not have to be wealthy, young, married, retired, or experienced with children. You simply have to be willing to learn, show up, and open your home and heart to a child who needs both. As we celebrated Father's Day over the weekend, I hope more men asked themselves a serious question: What if I could be part of changing the direction of a child’s life? Lisa and I did not know, 22 years ago, that 97 children would come through our doors. We did not know we would adopt five. We did not know every challenge, heartbreak, or joy that would come with saying yes. But we knew children needed families. And that was enough reason to begin. By Paul McGinnett  June is National Reunification Month, a time to celebrate families who have worked hard to overcome challenges and safely reunify with their children. It is also an opportunity to recognize the role foster families, caseworkers, and community supports play in helping families heal and reconnect. During our foster parent training, we use the National Training and Development Curriculum to discuss what reunification looks like. One of the most common questions we hear is, "What percentage of children are reunified with their parents?" In 2025, more than half of the children in Colorado's foster care system were reunified with their biological families. Within child welfare, reunification is the primary goal. Caseworkers often discuss it with a clinical understanding of the process, policies, and timelines. The expectation is that when safety concerns have been addressed and families have made necessary progress, children can safely return home. While reunification is the goal of foster care, it is often one of the most difficult parts of the journey for foster parents. As foster parent and Project 1.27 staff member Alysa Dudrey shared, "Reunification is brutal, and also, it's beautiful." It can be heart-wrenching. It means saying goodbye to a child you have loved as your own, a child your children consider a sibling, a child you have comforted through hard nights and celebrated through important milestones. It can mean packing up a child's belongings, placing them by the front door, and hoping the transition will be as smooth as possible. It can mean watching tears fall as your family says goodbye and knowing a chapter that changed your life is coming to an end. After saying goodbye to two little boys who had been in her home for 392 days, Alysa reflected, "The moment I've been dreading has come and gone. I'm simultaneously completely heartbroken and in awe of God's ability to show me the joy of a redemption story." That tension, grief and joy existing together,is at the heart of reunification.  During training, we challenge foster families to extend grace and humility toward biological parents. Children often enter foster care because of generational trauma, neglect, addiction, mental health struggles, or circumstances that have left parents without the support and tools they needed. The same grace that God extends to us, He extends to biological families. We must believe that healing, restoration, and second chances are possible.
Reunification is not simply about returning a child home. Foster parents play a role in helping an entire family heal and reconnect. It involves supporting birth families, encouraging progress, and believing that change can happen even when the road is difficult. There are moments of deep sorrow, but there are also moments when foster parents get a front-row seat to transformation. As Alysa wrote, "Reunification is watching a family thrive that wasn't before." It is seeing parents overcome obstacles, build healthy relationships, and create stability for their children. It is witnessing redemption take shape in real time. This is why reunification is both painful and beautiful. Foster parents grieve the loss of a child from their home while celebrating the restoration of a family. Sometimes the reward comes in unexpected ways, a text message expressing gratitude, a photo showing a child thriving, or simply the knowledge that a family is whole again. "It's getting texts of gratitude which you never expected, but which make it all worth it," Alysa shared. When foster parents say yes to fostering, they are also saying yes to uncertainty and heartbreak. As Alysa writes, "Nobody can really prepare you for the brokenness you'll experience and witness." Yet she follows that difficult truth with another: "And still they were worth every part of it." Perhaps that is the heart of reunification. It is messy, emotional, and often painful. Yet when it is possible and safe, it reflects the very mission of foster care. As Alysa beautifully expressed, "Reunification is the wholeness of a family, redemption on display in its most effortless form." It is evidence that healing can happen, that families can overcome tremendous challenges, and that children can safely return home. For foster parents, reunification requires sacrifice, trust, and a willingness to love children deeply while knowing they may not stay forever. Yet it is also one of the most beautiful parts of foster care because it reminds us that restoration is possible. Or, as Alysa concluded, "Reunification is a front-row seat to what Jesus paid for: forgiveness, grace, and another chance at a better life." By Marilyn Robinson, Director of Family Connections  Project 1.27’s name is rooted in James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (NIV) All of our work is aimed at helping the Church live out pure religion. We exist to help you care for today’s orphan.
Once a year, congregations around the world dedicate a single Sunday to growing awareness about, and compassion for, vulnerable children. This day is called Pure Religion Sunday, and this year it lands on November 8, 2026. Thousands of churches in countries around the world will consider what it means to practice “pure religion” by caring for the orphan and the widow. We would love to help you plan Pure Religion Sunday. The service could include:
We would be happy to have a presence after your service as well. Project 1.27 could:
We know that you may be creating your fall schedule now, so we are letting you know that Pure Religion Sunday falls on November 8. But know we are available to help with any of these ideas on any Sunday of the year. Our mission is to help your congregation understand the call to care for the orphan, the opportunities available outside your door, and facilitate next steps so that you can participate in “pure religion.” For videos, sermon ideas, and activities you can do as a congregation, visit CAFO’s Pure Religion Sunday site: https://cafo.org/purereligion/pure-religion-sunday/ Contact Alex Kuykendall if you’d like to schedule training or have a staff member be part of your Sunday service. [email protected]. By Alex Kuykendall, Director of Community Engagement  I have a love/hate relationship with summer. I love the weather, the slower days, traveling, and spending time at the lake or around a fire pit with people I love. But as the end of the school year approaches, I also find myself fighting off anxiety and dread. The school year comes with routine. My adopted son generally understands what his days look like and what’s expected of him. He knows PE is at 10:30 a.m. and lunch is at noon. He knows he needs to shower each night, do his chores, and complete his schoolwork. At school, he has a 1-on-1 aide and layers of support that help his days run smoothly. And honestly, I get a few hours each day where I don’t have to be hypervigilant, wondering where he is, what he’s doing, or what might happen next. But when summer arrives, many of those supports disappear. He loses the structure and predictability that help him feel safe, and I lose those moments where I can finally exhale. When we had four extra kids in our home through foster care (bringing our total to eight), summers could disintegrate from sweet days of popsicles and sprinkles to hard days with police visits and fires in the field. I’m not exaggerating, those things really happened. Over the years, we’ve learned a few “summer survival” strategies that help make the season smoother for everyone. For young kids, especially, but honestly, even for teens, structure and predictability are key. Keep Routines Simple & Predictable We keep consistent wake-up and bedtime routines. We use a visual schedule or simple calendar so the kids know what’s coming each day. I even include meal plans sometimes because knowing when food is coming helps them relax. One of the most important things for kids who have experienced trauma is simply knowing: Yes, you will be fed today. Build in Quiet Time If your family doesn’t already have a designated quiet time in the middle of the day, I highly recommend adding one. When we had eight kids at home, the two youngest napped for two hours after lunch while the middle kids read or played quietly in their rooms. The teens got screen time. And I got two glorious hours where I wasn’t meeting anyone’s needs except my own. Quiet time isn’t just for kids; it helps everyone regulate and breaks the day into two more manageable parts. Anchor the Day Try anchoring your days with a few consistent activities or rhythms. For us, mornings often included exercise, and afternoons included an outing or activity. When the kids were younger, the YMCA was a lifesaver. I could drop them in Child Watch for a couple of hours while I worked out (or sometimes just drank coffee in silence). Even now, I bring my teen to the Y almost every day. He does a weightlifting circuit, then plays basketball, ping pong, or pickleball with the seniors. In the afternoons, we usually try to leave the house for a little while: a trip to the park, a scooter ride around the block, setting up the backyard pool, or even just running errands together. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Sometimes a simple change of environment helps reset everyone’s nervous systems.  Prioritize Regulation Over Perfection Sometimes the sensory need is tactile (touch-based), and sometimes it’s proprioceptive (movement, pressure, or “heavy work” that helps the body feel calm and organized). Over time, we’ve learned that recognizing the need matters more than forcing the original plan. If yesterday spiraled because of a loud birthday party and too much sugar, let it go. Today might need to be quieter and slower. And if you’ve never built a “Mud Kitchen,” I’d highly recommend it. So many sensory needs can be met in that small 4-foot space. Think about what helps your child regulate and make those supports easily accessible. Maybe that means creating a calm-down corner with:
 Your Days Don’t Have to Be Full to Be Meaningful
At the start of each summer, we let each child pick five things they want to do before school starts again. The funny thing is, even with eight kids, we didn’t get 40 different things on the list because of all the overlap. I’m pretty sure every child included “get ice cream”, “go swimming”, and “eat at Chick-Fil-A”. We keep the lists posted on the wall and cross things off as we complete them. It reminds the kids that they have a voice in the plans, and it reminds me that we have all summer to enjoy these moments. Some days we accomplish nothing on the list. Other days we check off two things at once. Either way, the activities that matter most are usually the simple ones centered around connection: movie nights, cooking together, swimming, or sharing ice cream after dinner. Give Yourself Grace, Too You do not have to create a Pinterest-perfect summer. Regulated parents help regulate children. Rest matters too. And small moments of connection are often far more meaningful than packed schedules and expensive outings. Some days, survival is success. And if you’re in the thick of it this summer, you are not alone. By Jenny Watson, Director of Development and Communication  During Foster Care Month, we are reminded that the call to care for vulnerable children transcends culture, language, and borders. Recently, Project 1.27 had the privilege of training two families originally from Liberia who are pursuing foster care certification in the United States. Grace, a single mother, and Lorpue and her husband, Daniel, each felt called to open their homes to children in need. For Lorpue, the calling is deeply personal. As a young child in Liberia, Lorpue was sent to live with an aunt and remembers the pain of being separated from her mother. When civil war broke out in her country at the age of ten, her childhood changed forever. She witnessed violence and devastation that no child should ever endure. Families were displaced overnight, food and water became scarce, and safety was uncertain. During one period of fleeing attacks, Lorpue found refuge in a University building crowded with children who had lost parents or become separated from their families. She remembers hundreds of frightened children gathered together with only a few adults trying to care for them. In the midst of fear and uncertainty, something lasting was planted in her heart, a deep compassion for orphaned and vulnerable children. Her story is a powerful reminder that God often uses our hardest experiences to shape compassion and purpose.  Lorpue, Lisa, and Grace This Foster Care Month, we celebrate families like Grace, Lorpue, and Daniel who are answering the call to care for children with courage, faith, and open hearts.
As Scripture reminds us, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” James 1:27 We are grateful to walk alongside families who are helping make that promise a reality for children in need. By Lisa Marr, Family Connections Manager  Grace and Anna are cousins who attend Sunday School together each week. Anna is a delight. When she walks in on Sunday mornings, staff and volunteers can’t help but smile. They know she’ll be helpful, easygoing, and ready to participate.
Grace is loved just as deeply, but her arrival can feel a little different. Volunteers know they may be walking into a morning with some challenges. The girls arrive during “free play” and head off to their favorite activities. Anna notices her favorite puzzle is already being used by another child. She’s disappointed, but she’s able to move on and find something else to enjoy. Grace heads straight for her favorite doll, a doll she’s likely been thinking about all week. But when she sees another child holding it, everything changes. The disappointment feels overwhelming, and moving on doesn’t come easily. The teachers step in, offering alternatives and trying to redirect her, but nothing seems to help. In fact, each suggestion only seems to increase her frustration. Does this sound familiar? Have your childcare volunteers experienced moments like this, where a child struggles to recover from disappointment or a change in routine? Children need the church. Children from hard places especially need to be loved for who they are and cared for in ways they can truly receive. As you prepare for summer programs, VBS, camps, and other activities, are your volunteers equipped to support children like Grace? Did you know that Project 1.27 offers a FREE, on-site Trauma-Informed Training for children’s ministry staff and volunteers? In this two-hour training, we explore how early childhood trauma impacts brain development and behavior. More importantly, we equip your team with practical tools to better understand, support, and connect with children from hard places, so they can truly know they are loved by you and by the God who created them. So what happened with Grace and Anna? The Sunday School team took time to connect with Grace’s aunt and caregiver. They learned that Grace had experienced something deeply difficult early in life, and that certain situations, like losing access to something important to her, felt much bigger than they might for other children. Together, they made a simple but intentional change. They set aside Grace’s favorite doll so it would be available when she arrived. Did it take something away from the other children? Not really. Did it make a difference for Grace? Absolutely. Because sometimes, the smallest adjustments can communicate the biggest truth: You are seen. You are safe. You are loved. If you or your Children’s Ministry Leader would like more information on our Trauma-Informed Training, you can contact Kym Schnittker at [email protected]. By Kym Schnittker, Church Engagement Manager |
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Project 1.27 • 14000 E. Jewell Ave. • Aurora, CO 80012
EIN 26-3341511
Copyright Project 1.27 • All Rights Reserved
EIN 26-3341511
Copyright Project 1.27 • All Rights Reserved