Allison Coble, Author at Faith to Action

Trips that Create Advocates for Family Care

Tags: Community Strengthening Why read about family-based care when there is an opportunity to see and hear about it firsthand? Children in Families, a local Cambodian NGO, has created a program they call Rok Kern. Rok Kern is a Khmer phrase meaning “to come and see,” and that is exactly what they invite participants to do. Aligning with many of the principles discussed in Faith to Action’s Short Term Missions: Guidance to Support Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Rok Kern trips inspire participants to become family-based care advocates. Children in Families spent much of 2017 piloting [...]

Trips that Create Advocates for Family CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:04:08-05:00

New Podcast Available on Supporting Careleavers!

Careleavers are youth and young adults who transition from living in a residential care center to independent living. This transition period can be very difficult, especially when the transition occurs without appropriate planning and support often resulting in unemployment, homelessness, early pregnancies, trafficking and sexual exploitation. On this Faith to Action podcast, we interview Peter Kamau, Founding Partner of Child in Family Focus – Kenya, about his experience growing up in an orphanage. Listen and learn as Peter shares why many careleavers struggle after leaving care, the best services to offer careleavers, and resources to help those supporting careleavers. Listen Now! [...]

New Podcast Available on Supporting Careleavers!Allison Coble2024-01-10T14:03:00-05:00

To Love and to Serve

Tags: Economic Empowerment The long stretch of Kenyan coast is famous for its eye-catching sandy beaches shadowed by swinging palm trees along the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. But the sunny beaches hide the atrocities against children. The socio-cultural practices and tourism sector contribute to rampant child sexual abuse and exploitation in the forms of child marriages and pregnancies, incest and the transactional activities that result in child prostitution and sex tourism. Called to love and serve The late Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Malindi, Rev. Emmanuel Barbara, became aware of these [...]

To Love and to ServeAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:02:19-05:00

Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual French and Spanish Translations Now Available

The Faith to Action Initiative is excited to announce the Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual has been translated into both French and Spanish languages. This manual provides practical guidance and tools for churches, faith-based organizations, donors, and others who are transitioning care for children away from residential care to care within families. This resource is aligned with biblical principles, a strong evidence base, and a growing movement within the Church that affirms the importance of family in every child’s life. The Guidance Manual provides an overview of the key concepts and steps that are important [...]

Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual French and Spanish Translations Now AvailableAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:00:36-05:00

Advocacy Efforts Propel Family-Based Care in Kenya

Tags: Foster Care | Transitioning | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Child in Family Focus has been advocating for family-based care in Kenya since its inception in 2012. Cofounder and director Peter Muthui grew up in an orphanage in Nairobi and later worked as a social worker at the same home for ten years. His experiences both as a child living in an orphanage and as a social worker uniquely qualify him to champion the importance of family care for children. With a team of passionate and qualified Kenyans, Child in Family Focus is working [...]

Advocacy Efforts Propel Family-Based Care in KenyaAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:58:59-05:00

Partnering to Find a Family for Every Orphan

Tags: Adoption | Foster Care | Economic Empowerment A Family for Every Orphan (AFFEO) envisions a world where every child knows the love and stability of a family. To see this vision come to fruition, they partner with and provide support to Christ-centered local organizations around the globe that have developed foster care and adoption programs. Their international partners are strongly vetted to ensure organizational integrity and adherence to best practices. One of AFFEO’s international partners is a locally led faith-based organization (FBO)[i] in Southeast Asia composed of trained social workers, pastors, and a large network [...]

Partnering to Find a Family for Every OrphanAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:57:27-05:00

Students Connecting Theory to Practice in Costa Rica

Tags: Community Strengthening In April 2017, eight students accompanied Dr. Greg Burch, a professor at Multnomah University, to Costa Rica for a unique 12-day course. Students met with child welfare practitioners from a variety of local organizations, including Casa Viva and Roblealto Child Care Association, who represent best practice models along the continuum of care for children. Each day combined lectures, visits to organizations, and cultural activities. Dr. Burch describes the class as an “opportunity to connect theory to practice.” This year marked the third cohort of students from the undergraduate Global Studies program and [...]

Students Connecting Theory to Practice in Costa RicaAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:56:14-05:00

The Bond That Forms: Empowering Women with Lifesaving Maternal Care

Tags: Community Strengthening A weekly visit, a nutritious meal and the deepening of relationships. Over nine months, trust builds and a bond forms—a bond with the women who stand by her side, who hold her hand, who breathe with her, and help her bring her baby into this world safely. After the calamity and torrent of giving birth, then there is the peace—the peace of time, the peace of space, the peace of bonding and nurturing this new life. These are all luxuries afforded pregnant women and new mothers in many parts of the world, but [...]

The Bond That Forms: Empowering Women with Lifesaving Maternal CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:55:03-05:00

Thank You for Supporting Faith to Action!

We know children grow best in the love and care of families. This basic truth has driven Faith to Action for over 10 years to serve as a resource for those seeking how to best respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. It’s during this season of thankfulness that we wanted to share how much we appreciate you! It is only because of your support this year that... Inspiring stories showing the importance of family care, like that of Pastor Charles and his daughter Andaiye in Uganda, were shared with thousands on social media. Christian university and seminary [...]

Thank You for Supporting Faith to Action!Allison Coble2024-03-11T11:37:40-04:00

Where We Belong: The Importance of Family Tracing

Tags: Community Strengthening Every Saturday, 18 impoverished communities in and around the capital city of Uganda welcome staff and volunteers from Kids Club Kampala for games, music, Bible study, and other exciting activities. Olivia Barker White, Corrie Fraser, and Samuel Wambayo started these weekly Kids Club meetings in 2009. With an initial presence in only two communities, Kids Club Kampala spread as other neighborhoods invited the ministry to hold weekly gatherings with their children. The staff of Kids Club Kampala recruit volunteers from local churches to reach out to these communities, and both the staff [...]

Where We Belong: The Importance of Family TracingAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:51:33-05:00

A Father to Tie Her Shoes: A Ugandan Pastor’s Adoption Story

Tags: Adoption | Foster Care | Community Strengthening In 2014, then just a baby, Andaiye* was found abandoned in a drainage ditch in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala. After she received medical treatment, it was determined she was HIV positive. She was referred to Child’s i Foundation’s Malaika Family Centre, a short-term transitional shelter for children, while social workers began searching for Andaiye’s family. Through local radio and newspaper ads, social workers with Child’s i Foundation are often successful in finding a child’s birth family, as reunification, when safe and appropriate, is the preferred option along the [...]

A Father to Tie Her Shoes: A Ugandan Pastor’s Adoption StoryAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:52:17-05:00

5 Essential Steps for Transitioning to Family-Based Care

It has been a few months since we gathered with more than 2,000 global child welfare advocates and faith-based leaders in Nashville, Tennessee at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit (CAFO2017). Attendees heard from renowned speakers, shared ideas, and asked themselves, as CAFO President Jedd Medefind put it, “what does the world need most from me?” For the Faith to Action Initiative, CAFO2017 was an opportunity to build relationships, share our and host family care experts in our Effective Strategies for Transitioning to Family-Based Care workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Faith to Action’s Executive Director Sarah Gesiriech, [...]

5 Essential Steps for Transitioning to Family-Based CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:48:47-05:00

Can Conferences Change the World?

Five Reflections after the International Wholistic Missions Conference Like many others, the Faith to Action Initiative has a vision to change the world and see all children raised in loving families. Over the years, participating in conferences has been a main strategy in pursuing this vision. After facilitating a workshop track on orphans and vulnerable children at the 2017 International Wholistic Missions Conference (IWMC) in Phoenix, Faith to Action reflected on the opportunities of conferences, such as IWMC, to support our efforts to change the world. 1. Overcoming competition to explore opportunities for partnership. One of the benefits [...]

Can Conferences Change the World?Allison Coble2024-01-10T13:47:11-05:00

NEW RESOURCE: Transitioning to Family Care for Children Tool Kit

The Faith to Action Initiative is happy to announce the launch of our Transitioning to Family Care for Children Tool Kit. This in-depth, online resource equips churches, faith-based organizations, donors, and others seeking to transition their care and support of children from residential care models to care within families. A companion to the Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual, the Tool Kit allows users to access over 200 resources organized by specific topics within the transitioning care process, including practical tools, evidence-based research, case studies, country-specific information, and many other resources. Start Exploring Learn about key steps in transitioning [...]

NEW RESOURCE: Transitioning to Family Care for Children Tool KitAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:37:33-05:00

Better Together for Children and Families in Uganda

Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening The crested crane is a symbol of pride in Uganda. It is both the national bird and the name of Uganda’s most popular sports team—the Uganda Cranes. There is, however, another organization with a national reach utilizing this symbol. CRANE, also known as the Children at Risk Action Network, is an organization based in Kampala, Uganda that utilizes the strength of networks to catalyze best practices in working with vulnerable children and families. CRANE consists of 134 churches, schools, and faith-based organizations (FBOs) that span the entire country. Members of CRANE [...]

Better Together for Children and Families in UgandaAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:35:18-05:00

The Pathway Home

Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening Each child living on the street in Jinja, Uganda has a unique story, but many of their stories have similar themes. Broken homes, poverty, abuse, neglect, and addiction are common threads. And many of these children have something else in common—a family who loves them—and if provided with the appropriate supports, these families could welcome their children home. The passionate and well-trained staff at Jinja Connection run a day program open to children and youth who live on the street. Their goal is to walk with each child, at his [...]

The Pathway HomeAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:31:30-05:00

Five Lessons Learned Through Global Church Partnership

Tags: Community Strengthening Global church partnerships are an exciting idea, but pursuing a genuinely reciprocal relationship across the world can be challenging. Pulpit Rock Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been partnering with World Orphans for three years to support a local church in Leku Keta, Ethiopia in caring for the vulnerable children there—single or double orphans living with one parent or without a birth parent in an informal foster family. Local volunteers in the Leku Keta Kale Heywet Church visit these families regularly to check on the children and their family’s overall wellbeing, provide support, [...]

Five Lessons Learned Through Global Church PartnershipAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:30:14-05:00

Join Faith to Action at these Upcoming May Conferences

Faith to Action will be attending and presenting at both the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit and the International Wholistic Missions Conference. We hope you are able to join us to learn more about family-based care solutions. Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit May 4-5 // Nashville, TN The Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Summit will welcome more than 2,500 orphan and vulnerable children advocates, pastors, and other faith-based leaders from over 25 countries for two-days of events, including pre-event intensives on May 3. Summit includes plenary sessions with national and international speakers, networking opportunities, and workshops. Faith to Action [...]

Join Faith to Action at these Upcoming May ConferencesAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:29:21-05:00

Breaking Isolation, Empowering Families

Tags: Community Strengthening Fifty-one percent of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 24. This is a trend found in numerous developing countries, and some see these disproportionate numbers as a potential problem. Craig Greenfield, however, saw it as a resource when he first began to look for ways to provide support for a large number of families with vulnerable children living in his Cambodian community. In typical Gospel-centered fashion where the unlikely is the likely, God is using those who are often seen as the recipients of development efforts to be the change makers. [...]

Breaking Isolation, Empowering FamiliesAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:28:22-05:00

Expanding a Vision of Care for Kenyan Children

Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment After years of caring for vulnerable children within a residential setting, Vision Africa, a faith-based organization in Kenya, expanded their vision by adjusting their strategies to support the healthy development of children in families. Vision Africa was founded in 2001 by John and Vera Packard in response to the overwhelming needs of the children they encountered in the community as they administered a children’s home in Nairobi. Initially, they took on the management of two children’s homes from an organization that was unable to continue their administration. John [...]

Expanding a Vision of Care for Kenyan ChildrenAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:26:57-05:00

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About Allison Coble