This February we encourage churches to take an opportunity to show love towards adoptive parents, grandparents, foster parents or any caregiver within your congregation by hosting a Kids’ Night Out.  Show your love by providing caregivers a worry-free night out with a spouse or significant other while the kids are having a safe, fun-filled night at the church. Being a caregiver, especially of kids who’ve experienced trauma, can be a difficult job. Here are some steps to consider when planning. 

Foster care is supporting children and their parents during a period of separation. This involves co-parenting with the child’s biological parents.  Co-parenting can be one of the hardest parts of a foster parent’s job. Done well, co-parenting can be an important factor in the child’s smooth return home and reduce the likelihood the child will reenter foster care in the future.  Co-parenting is a gift to kids in foster care because they see the adults in their life working as a team and struggle less with divided loyalties. The foster parent can also serve as a healthy parenting role model for the biological parents. 

TIPS for Co-Parenting:

• Make contact with the child’s parent as soon as possible. Reach out to your caseworker for the parents’ information and get approval to make contact with the family.  Assure the parents you will take good care of their child for as long as he is in your home. If direct contact isn’t possible, take time to send the parents a note. 

Calvary Belmar is one of the most recent Foster Adoption Friendly Churches certified by Project 1.27. By developing their foster and adoption ministry and having staff attend Trauma Informed Church Training,  Calvary Belmar has created an environment where:

• Everyone in the congregation is consistently reminded to care for vulnerable children.
• Foster, kinship and adoptive families find encouragement and practical support.
• Children who have experienced trauma, grief and loss can grow into the people God intends them to be. 

The process began with phone calls, email exchanges and completing the More Than Enough survey.  The survey assisted Calvary Belmar’s committee in developing next steps they could take in order to achieve their ministry goals.  Here’s information shared by Calvary Belmar about their ministry:  

“Although the healing of the children in foster care is our greatest priority, the need for prayer is not limited to the children. There are biological and foster families, caseworkers, advocates and the many volunteers and other professionals involved in the welfare of each child. But it can be difficult to know the many needs of so many people.” 
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Calvary Belmar challenged the congregation to pray for those in the Foster Care system using created by the Christian Alliance For Orphans.

Calvary Belmar now has a full foster care and adoption ministry which advocates for children in foster care, provides safe and stable foster and adoptive homes for children in crisis, and provides support for the foster and adoptive families.  

Join Calvary Belmar in providing support and prayer along with safe and stable foster homes for our most vulnerable children.  Caring for vulnerable children can be part of every church culture. Contact Project 1.27 for more information about developing your church foster care and adoption ministry. 

A Safe Place for Everyone in the Family
Although adding a foster sibling to the family is exciting for the children already in the home, when a family is placed there are a myriad of changes occurring. Trauma can manifest itself in the form of challenging behaviors that are emotionally, even physically challenging. As a result, building healing connection and trust with a foster child requires a high level of parental attention. Sometimes other children in the family may feel neglected or forgotten during this intense process. Below are some suggestions to ensure that the needs of all children in the family are nurtured during placement.
Prepare children for possible challenges: As is appropriate – and while maintaining respect for the foster child – consider having a conversation with existing children about the needs of a new child coming into the home. Encourage children to ask questions and keep explanations appropriate for their developmental phase. 

HHS recently announced a new proposed regulation.  If finalized, this regulation would help protect the ability of faith-based organizations to continue to serve children and families in partnership with
government while remaining true to their deeply-held religious beliefs.  (More information below).
HHS is committed to fully enforcing the civil rights laws passed by Congress. The proposed rule would
better align its grants regulations with federal statutes, eliminating regulatory burden, including burden on the free exercise of religion. HHS is affirming that it will comply with all applicable Supreme Court decisions in administering its grants programs.
 
Read the proposed rule.
Read the Notice of Nonenforcement.
Health and Human Services Grant Regulation.

The approval of these regulations will likely depend, in part, upon statements of support submitted by
child-serving organizations and families to HHS prior to midnight on December 19. 
Consider submitting a story or letter that supports your beliefs on this proposed regulation before
December 19. Simple comments and stories can be meaningful and affirm policies that welcome and
accommodate faith-based organizations.

Project 1.27 is a member of CAFO (Christian Alliance for Orphans). CAFO has submitted the attached
letter to HHS which does a great job outlining the possible impacts on faith-based organizations focused on foster care and adoption.

Comments must be received by midnight on December 19, 2019.

Your voice can make a difference!