Raising funds for Safe Families for Children

What is Safe Families?

Safe Families for Children is a ministry of compassion whose goal is to stop child abuse and abandonment at the source. By providing an alternative to the foster care system, where the biological parent retains full legal custody and parental rights, host families take care of children of parents who are going through:

• homelessness
• eviction
• incarceration
• drug rehabilitation
• surgery 
• and more!

Safe Families provides a safety net to families who have nowhere to turn to during crisis. Without support, it is very difficult to break the negative cycles of addiction, homelessness, or emotional problems. During these times, many children are often overlooked and are at risk of neglect and abuse. 

Some local examples in Riverside, CA:

•   Last week a call came in from a hospital in LA who had a patient that had an emergency C-section. She has four other children who had been living with her in a homeless shelter after leaving a domestic violence situation in another state. The kids had no one to look after them and neither the hospital nor the shelter could be responsible for them. The hospital was going to have to call Social Services to intervene. Thankfully, a case worker at the shelter found the hotline number for Safe Families and called immediately. Host families stepped up to be available to have the children in homes by bedtime that same night! Their quick, compassionate response prevented children from having to enter the foster care system during what would normally be a celebratory event of bringing a new baby into the family. The children got to go home to be with their mom and new baby when they were released two days later

•    Last week a call came in from  a local hospital about a family that had traveled across the country by car because mom had a job opportunity here in California. A few hundred miles before they reached their destination their car broke down, was impounded and the family became homeless. Over the last week several host families stepped up to host five children while mom navigated the California social services system, looked for work, and secured housing. 8 SFFC churches engaged with this family over the past week through hosting, donations, and transportation. “This is exactly what we needed to keep our kids safe while we figured things out, we just didn’t know that it actually existed. We almost feel like we should turn around and go back home just to tell the people in our hometown about Safe Families because people need it there too. Safe Families needs to be everywhere.” –Mom

Why raise funds for Safe Families?

Our main goal is to keep families together and build a community to help other families in need. The Host Family is never alone and have Family Friends that help the Host Family financially, with baby sitting, and more.

Many times, incidents happen so suddenly, that many of the kids, average age of 5 years old, come with nothing. So the Host Family will need to buy: clothes, car seats, food, diapers, etc. By donating, you help Host Families do their part by focusing on the child, giving them a safe, secure home, until the parent(s) are ready to take care of their kid again.

What are the results of Safe Families?

• 85% of families in this movement come back together: often into even more stable environment than last time
• 94% of children of a Host Family return home without being subjected to abuse or neglect.
• Isolation is a major contributing factor to child abuse. 100% of parents step out of isolations and into relationships with other local families, reducing the risk of child abuse. 
• And more

Please Donate to Safe Families for Children! All proceeds (besides the processing fees) go straight to the Safe Families branch here in the valley, through Mercy Projects.

Join us as we help save families from the crises and isolation they experience, by helping to build a healthy community of support to those parents struggling to raise their Kids!

Thank you for help!

Sincerely,

 Nevin Slaughter and Dominic Knight