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Safe Families for Children - A Movement of Biblical Hospitality
 When crisis strikes, many of us rely on relatives and friends for support. But for some families, poverty and social isolation mean that they don't have support when they need it. Often, a straightforward problem such as postpartum depression or unemployment can be debilitating. Children in these situations often suffer neglect or abuse; some eventually are removed from their home and placed in state custody.
Safe Families provides a chance for parents to get back on their feet before abuse and neglect occur. Parents experiencing a temporary crisis can arrange for their children to stay with families of faith while they address the issues that lead to their situation.
Safe Families is a national movement of compassion that is preventing child abuse by encouraging the Church to resume its historical and Biblical responsibility for vulnerable children by becoming part of the support network for these children's parents.
Beginning in 2012, BCHFS will partner with Safe Families for Children to bring the
Safe Families movement to Southern Illinois.
Become involved in Safe Families for Children
 Safe Families volunteers can make a powerful impact in the lives of others while being transformed themselves by practicing Biblical hospitality and extending the love of Christ to people in need. There are a variety of ways to participate in your area:
Host Family
Host Families are volunteers who practice Biblical hospitality by opening their homes to children while their parents resolve short term crises.
Family Friend
Family Friends are volunteer mentors who come alongside parents to support them in making the necessary changes to their lives. Family Friends help to address the problem of parental isolation, which is at the root of why most parents seek out Safe Families. Placement of children is not need to be connected to a family friend.
Resource Friends
Resource
Friends provide assistance to parents and other volunteers in the Safe Families network through the armature services they can offer such as baby-sitting, transportation, and lawn care; professional services they can offer such as physicians, dentists, mental health professionals, barbers, and teachers; and physical objects they can donate such as diapers, formula, and gently used baby equipment and children's clothing.
Support for Existing Situations
If a relative or friend is already caring for a child and in need of support, Safe Families welcomes them into a vibrant volunteer network by making home support visits, inviting them to community groups and giving them the access to physical resources in order to strengthen them as they provide a stable environment for a child.
YouShare.org
YouShare.org is an online outlet for giving that builds transformational relationships between resource-differentiated families. It connects the specific of local families with the resources and talents of their neighbors.
Church Leadership Teams
Churches can deepen their involvement in the Safe Families movement with Church Coordinators who build ways for all of the volunteers to work together to sustain each other, including support groups, "clothing closets," child care networks and other services.
For more information about how you or your church
can become involved in the Safe Families movement contact:
Andrea Biggerstaff
Safe Families Coordinator
Email Andrea
(618) 382-4165 ex. 208
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