Conference Task Force on Children & Poverty
150 Ways to Connect - Foster Care Book Now Available
150 Ways to Connect with Children & Youth in Foster Care by Gary P. Webb is a great resource to help you and your church discover ways to be in ministry with those living within the foster care system. Copies of the book will be available in the exhibits area at Annual Conference for $5. Or, get your copy early from Billie Fidlin in the Conference Office!
FACT SHEET
For every 100 people who come to a food bank, 50 people will not receive any food. They will go home tonight, hungry. As Christians, we are responsible for what - we - know.
Want to become more involved in foster care issues? There are 5 ways churches can become more involved in outreach opportunities.
Host a Big event - gather children and youth together from multiple group homes to celebrate celebrations, religious holidays and other outreach events.
Individual Home Visits - send in individuals, families or ministry groups during the week and on weekends to spend one on one time with children.
Adopt a Group Home - adopt a specific home, providing personalized servcies and products needed in that home, such as new bed sheets, towels, room decorations, minor repairs and painting.
Sponsor a Home - if a church cannot participate physically, how about financial sponsorship - a great option. Monthly sponsorships are available for an individual bed, a room, or an entire house.
Promote Adoption & Foster Family Opportunities - Raise awareness!
For more information go to www.offcampusjams.org
Ongoing Initiatives:
Foster Care - In an effort to undergird families who participate in foster care, the Children & Poverty Task Force will be working to identify current respite care givers, as well as train new care givers.
Upcoming Legislation - The Task Force will be reviewing any legislation as it affects children and the poor. We look for your input as well.
Information on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia - There is a series of 5 documentaries you can view online (or order) about this important issue. Learn more about Seeds of Hope.
In The News...
Foster Care Bill Passes
(Editor's Note: The Human Needs Report is the Coalition on Human Needs' newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. It is published every other week while Congress is in session.)
Article from the October 9, 2008 edition of the CHN Human Needs Report:
The House passed the bi-partisan Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (H.R. 6893) by voice vote on September 17, and the Senate passed it by unanimous consent on September 22. The President is expected to sign the bill. The legislation recognizes the contribution grandparents and other relatives make in raising children through guardianship and adoption. It improves education and health care for children in the foster care system and extends federal support for services for youth to age 21 under certain circumstances.
The Act gives states the option of providing assistance payments to grandparents and other relatives who have moved from providing foster care to legal guardianship in order to provide children with a permanent home. The bill provides incentives to promote adoption of children from foster care and it makes it easier to adopt children with special needs. It calls for states to make reasonable efforts to keep siblings together in foster care and encourages kinship guardianship or adoptive placements to promote permanent family connections for children. H.R. 6893 expands the availability of training dollars to cover staff not only in public agencies but in private child welfare agencies, and for court personnel and advocates. It also allows Indian tribes to access funds to administer their foster care or adoption assistance programs.
The bill takes steps to address children's health and education needs by requiring states to develop a plan for ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for children in foster care. State child welfare agencies are required to improve educational stability by ensuring that children remain in the school they are enrolled at the time of placement into foster care, unless that would not be in the child's best interest. Funds are increased in the bill for education-related transportation.
A more complete summary and analysis of H.R. 6893 from the Center for Law and Social Policy and Children's Defense Fund can be found at: http://www.clasp.org/publications//FCSAIAActLongSummary091608.pdf .
Click here to view the video, "One Hope: A Story of Ethiopian Orphans."