Community Corner
SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN MARKS 500th CHILD MILESTONE
SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN MARKS 500th CHILD MILESTONE
Bethany Christian Services St. Louis Branch Celebrates Commitment to Local Families and Children
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St. Louis, Missouri, June 18, 2014 – With more than 400,000 children in foster care across the United States, the St. Louis branch of Bethany Christian Services, the leading global family preservation and child welfare agency, has been lending a hand to families in crisis in the hopes of keeping kids out of the foster care system through its Safe Families for Children (SFFC) Program. Recently, the branch had the privilege of serving its 500th child through the program.
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SFFC is a unique national movement enlisting families from local churches to provide care for children whose parents are experiencing temporary difficulties - sudden unemployment, loss of housing, hospitalization, drug/alcohol dependency, etc. - so that they can work through their troubles without having to place their children in foster care. Host families, as they are known in the ministry, can also provide support to pregnant or parenting teens in need. The Central/Southern Illinois branch has been running the program for four years and currently has 59 SFFC host families available in which to place children for temporary care.
“Being a Safe Families for Children host family has taught us so many important lessons – compassion, service, gratitude,” said Ryan and Rhonda Newell, Safe Families for Children hosts and residents of St. Peters. “I can’t say enough about the impact the program has had on us. We feel so blessed to be able to serve our community this way.”
The branch’s SFFC program was also recently honored for its outstanding work on behalf of vulnerable children and families in the greater St. Louis and Central/Southern Illinois area by two community organizations – the Jefferson County Probation and Parole District and the Crisis Nursery of St. Louis.
“Keeping children with their parents is always preferred to placing them in foster care,” said Donna Nicholson, St. Louis branch director. “We are seeing the amazing difference this program is making in our community and would like to thank those serving as host families as well as those supporting our efforts to serve families in crisis.”
For more information on Bethany Christian Services, or how to support Safe Families for Children, visit http://www.bethany.org/stlouis.