One Family at a Time.
Celebrating a Milestone of 500 Kids with a Preventative and Restorative Tool.
We are not only celebrating the year anniversary of partnering with Embrace Families to use CarePortal, but also the 544 kids served by churches and responders! And that number keeps growing– but the impact goes way beyond the numbers.
Imagine that you are raising multiple kids alone and you struggle to afford even diapers, in addition to several of your children needing beds and carseats. Your need far outweighs your means and ability to provide for your family, and the feeling of helplessness is tearing you down. Life is growing dark, and your depressed mind leaves you even less capable of caring for your kids. In the midst of your despair, a child welfare worker arrives at your home out of concern for your family. If you can’t get these needs addressed, there’s a risk of your children being removed and placed in the foster care system.
Stories like this one are all too real and common. It is easy to see how kids get placed in foster care out of these dire situations, and parents are caught in a predicament of loving their kids, but not being able to provide a safe home for raising their children. Many times, parents are only one or two circumstances away from being able to keep their kids. And yet, some families could be kept together with a twin bed or a car battery.
This is why CarePortal exists. CarePortal is a technology connecting platform, making local churches and community members aware, giving them a real-time opportunity to respond. This tool helps provide these key items to families that need them so they can remain intact. C127’s Program Coordinator Ashey Turton explained that whereas Care Communities are intervention, providing wrap-around care to foster families, CarePortal is the preventative tool of the Family Advocacy Ministry. Its goal is to prevent children from entering the foster care system, keeping them in their families by providing parents with tangible needs that enable them to safely care for their children.
Although these material needs are necessary to keep children in their families, they often serve as the gateway to something even more lasting and impactful: relationship. Stacie Crawley, Advocate and CarePortal responder at Mosaic Church, said, “CarePortal is the on-ramp into vulnerable families’ lives where they let us come in during a crisis.” She explained that beyond the giving of an item like a crib or bedding, CarePortal opens the door for a relationship to form between the parent who receives the item and the responder who brings it to them.
This emphasis on establishing supportive relationships reflects the original purpose of CarePortal. Ashley Turton said that “the hope behind CarePortal is to build relationships and develop meaningful connections with the families.” It is more than an item delivery service; it brings friendship and relational care to parents who are often subject to loneliness and stress as they strive to care for children while struggling to make ends meet.
LaTroya, a mother to seven young children, has experienced depression and feelings of darkness and lowliness related to her struggle to provide for her children she loves deeply. She said, “On the inside I feel like less of a mom.” LaTroya’s burden was eased in a powerful way when she was connected with Stacie, who responded to the need entered into CarePortal by the child welfare worker. She said that Stacie welcomed her “with open arms,” was “so sweet,” and did not judge her. LaTroya said, “She was so nice to me; you rarely meet people like that.” Through the CarePortal system, Stacy was able to provide LaTroya with a car seat, a bed, and pull-ups for her kids. LaTroya said, “It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
Building meaningful relationships and meeting tangible needs both contribute to bolstering a sense of success in the parents that motivates them to persevere. Child welfare worker Angela Hall emphasized the significance of a parent receiving a pack ‘n play for their child. She explained that a parent co-sleeping with their child poses a safety risk for the child, and when the parent can provide their child with a safe place to sleep, it also creates this sense of success for them as parents. Furthermore, CarePortal enables the child welfare workers to “meet needs that [they] would not have been able to meet before.” Angela Hall pointed out that child welfare workers have a small monthly budget of funds that they can use to help the children most at risk, but with CarePortal, they can meet more needs for the children. She said that because of this, the child welfare workers also get a similar sense of success that motivates them to persevere in their work.
Closely tied to this sense of success is the sense of worth. Stacie Crawley said that her greatest joy in her work through CarePortal is when a mom realizes that she is worthy and has inherent value. Although Stacie longs for parents to know that their worth is not dependent on their success as a parent or otherwise, helping them succeed in caring for their children serves as a vessel for this truth. It helps them to see it. This success gives the parent space to see the worth they have always had, and it leads to the protection of their children as they are able to remain a part of their family.
All of these restorative effects of CarePortal could be shared with so many more hurting families simply through awareness. LaTroya said, “I didn’t even know about these kinds of resources that are out there.” Ashley Turton further emphasized the importance of awareness, saying that the need is immediate. She wants churches to consider forming response teams to be able to see how close and prevalent the need is. Ashley explained that to many people’s surprise, there are often families just down the street that are in dire need.
Currently, there are 19 churches who use CarePortal as a tool in their FAM with point people helping to meet these tangible needs. As Stacie Crawley said, “We are in desperate need of more people to jump on this ministry.” And the need for more churches to launch Family Advocacy Ministries in Osceola County is especially critical.
Might YOU be willing to step up and help your church lead the effort to help stabilize families?