Foster Care and FostAdopt Overview

1
Love Never Fails

• Foster Care and Fost/Adopt Overview
• for Churches

For more information, please contact Agape
Adoption Agency of Arizona, Inc. Phone (480)
272-7994 P O Box 50246 Phoenix, AZ
85076 www.agapeaz.org Adoption Certification ?
Foster Care Licensure ? Parenting Classes ?
Kinship Advocacy ? Birth Parent Services
2
Love Never Fails
What is the ABC Initiative? Agape Black Children
and Churches Initiative, inspired by the One
Church One Child program which has placed 120,000
children in adoptive homes. ABC Initiative
Program Goals 1. Increase awareness about the
need for foster and adoptive homes - In the
Black community - In the general community,
with an emphasis on the needs of Black
children 2. Take action by training, licensing,
certifying, supporting and celebrating resource
families and foster family ministries 3. Retain
resource families through fellowship events and
through effective advocacy with Arizonas
Department of Economic Security and Maricopa
Countys Superior Court
3
Love Never Fails

• How Does Foster Care Work?
• Resource families trained (30 hours), licensed
  and ready to receive children into their care
• Call to child abuse report line
• Investigation of allegation
• Child safety evaluated
• Child moved to a relatives home or foster home
• Caseworker assigned to work with birth family
  and child until child can be reunited with birth
  family or, if reunification is impossible, until
  an adoption plan is developed

4
Love Never Fails

• What brings a child into foster care?
• Parental abuse
• Physical, emotional or sexual
• Parental Neglect or Abandonment
• Lack of supervision
• Failure to provide adequate housing
• Failure to provide basic needs and/or hygiene

5
Love Never Fails
Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?
6
Love Never Fails
Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?
7
Love Never Fails
Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?
8
Love Never Fails
Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?
9
Love Never Fails
Maricopa County Zip Codes with Most Pressing
Need for Resource (Foster and Adoptive)
Parents 85014, 85225, 85040, 85041, 85029,
85204, 85021, 85033, 85051, 85015, 85323,
85009, 85017, 85301, 85201 If your church is in
one of these zip codes, please call Agape today
to find out how you can make a difference!
10
Love Never Fails
Next Steps for Churches RAISE AWARENESS ENCOURAG
E AND CELEBRATE FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION
Identify one family who is willing to foster or
adopt a newly identified child and support that
family through the licensure/certification/placeme
nt processes. Host adoption and foster care
orientation and training meetings at your
church. Agape will provide participating churches
with informational materials and will conduct
orientation and training meetings at dates and
times that are convenient for YOU! Bring
in guest speakers, distribute flyers or hang
posters about the importance of adoption and
foster care, and the need for families to get
involved and support each other. There are times
each year when churches and communities across
the nation are doing this together. Historically,
National Foster Care Month is in May. National
Adoption Month is in November, and National
Adoption Day is celebrated the Saturday before
Thanksgiving.
11
Love Never Fails
Next Steps for Churches ESTABLISH A CORE TEAM OR
A FOSTER CARE MINISTRY Gather together
additional individuals and families in your
church and local community who also have a heart
for foster care and adoption. Be aware that there
may be many people in your church whose lives
have already been touched by adoption and orphan
care. Once foster care and adoptive
placements begin, be sure to organize regular
meetings to support one another. Here are some
recommendations of areas of focus mentor new
resource families advocate and educate each
other as you gain expertise as a resource family
provide respite for each other pray and
encourage each other if problems arise recruit
additional resource families and help with
child-specific adoption campaigns organize
Christ-centered, annual (or more frequent)
fellowship events for the children in your care.
12
Love Never Fails
Next Steps for Churches SUPPORT THE FAMILIES
THAT ARE CLOSE TO HOME Find out more about the
families at risk in your zip code and how your
congregation can help them. In addition to
fostering or adopting, church members can
Start A Mentoring Ministry For Vulnerable
Children. A mentoring ministry may be an
extension of an existing youth or young adult
ministry, and can offers the opportunity to help
to break the cycle by providing Godly role models
and friends to foster or otherwise vulnerable
children. Be a Court Appointed Special Advocate
(CASA). CASAs are volunteers from the community
who visit assigned foster children and advocate
for their best interests inside and outside of
the courtroom. Participate on the Foster Care
Review Board (FCRB). These volunteers review the
progress of children in the foster care system
toward achieving a permanent home and advise the
juvenile court on this progress. Be an advocate.
The Children's Action Alliance (CAA) is a strong
and independent voice for Arizona's children.
Join CAA's advocacy network to stay up to date on
policy issues that make a difference to the
well-being of children in and out of the foster
care system. Be a donor. A donation to the
Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation
(AFFCF) helps provide opportunities for foster
children that include college scholarships,
tutoring, athletic memberships and equipment,
school activities and more.
13
Love Never Fails
What should each ABC Initiative Participating
Church Do? Each participating church can do any
of the Next Steps described in this
presentation, including

• Identify and Supporting Families for Foster Care
  and Adoptive Placements
• Raise Awareness About Adoption and Foster Care
• Host an Orientation or Training Meetings for
  Church Members and Local Families
• Participate in ABC Initiative Events, Including
  the Semi-Annual Community Breakfasts
• Find Unique Ways to Encourage and Celebrate the
  Successes of Families and Mentors Involved in
  Foster Care or Adoption

14
Love Never Fails

• Pure and undefiled religion before God and the
  Father is this to visit orphans and widows in
  their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from
  the world.
• James 127
• Agape Adoption Agency of Arizona, Inc. is a
  501(c)3 Christian Agency that provides
• Adoption Certification ? Foster Care Licensure ?
  Parenting Classes
• Kinship Advocacy ? Birth Parent Services
• For more information, please contact us at
• Phone [phone] Fax [phone]
• www.agapeaz.org