Bethany Christian Services Announces New Program in Haiti
Bethany Global, a division of Bethany Christian Services (BCS), announced the launch of social services in Haiti that will serve and support foster care. Partnering with a local church in Port-Au-Prince, Bethany is currently recruiting families to undergo its rigorous foster care training program, and anticipates serving 60 children by summer 2016. In spring 2014, Bethany launched a small project in Haiti called Operation Exodus, working with vulnerable families living in the tent cities around Port-Au-Prince. This project serves to strengthen families through economic and psychosocial support. Relocation to safe housing is a priority, but so is financial sustainability, [...]
CAFO Webinar on Empowering Caregivers
This Wednesday, January 13th, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will launch the fourth in a monthly webinar series, Knowledge + Practice. These webinars translate research into actionable information that OVC care practitioners can implement immediately to elevate the quality of the care they provide. This webinar is called “Empowering Caregivers: Practical Parenting Training (Adolescent Edition)" and will take place on Wednesday from 11am – 12pm Eastern. Research and common knowledge both suggest that the most influential relationship in a child's life is with his or her caregiver. A strong caregiver relationship can limit the effects of trauma, increase a child's [...]
New Better Care Network Working Paper on Gatekeeping
Published jointly with UNICEF, Better Care Network has recently released a new working paper focused on the role of gatekeeping in strengthening family-based care and reforming alternative care systems. Gatekeeping refers to systematic procedures aimed at ensuring that alternative care for children is used only when necessary, and that the type of care provided is suitable to the individual child. This Working Paper reviews different approaches to gatekeeping in five countries: Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda. In each context, the working paper explores what has and has not worked, analyzes lessons learned from practice, and reflects on the implications for improving policy [...]
Displacement and Family Separation for Syrian Refugee Children
Tags: Community Strengthening According to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the world is facing the biggest refugee crisis since WWII, having surpassed 50 million people who have been forced to leave their homes as refugees, as asylum seekers, or as internally displaced persons (IDPs) within their home countries. This massive increase is driven largely by the civil war in Syria, which will reach the five-year mark in a few months. According to World Vision, “The crisis in Syria affects more than 12 million people—more than those affected by Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti [...]
CAFO Webinar on Family Reintegration
This Wednesday, December 9th, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will launch the third in a monthly webinar series, Knowledge + Practice. These webinars translate research into actionable information that OVC care practitioners can implement immediately to elevate the quality of the care they provide. This webinar is called “Family Reintegration: Achieving Balance Between Empowering Families and Safeguarding Children” and will take place on Wednesday from 2 PM – 3 PM Eastern. Kate Riordan, Senior Advocacy Advisor at Family for Every Child will explore how to keep families intact and reunite separated families with proper safe-guarding; how to prevent the factors that [...]
CAFO Webinar on How to Be a Welcoming Church for Special Needs Foster & Adoptive Families
Today, November 18th from 2-3pm EST, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will host a webinar on helping welcome and support special needs foster and adoptive families. As special needs and older child programs are on the rise, this means churches need to be prepared to accommodate families affected by disability or complex trauma. Shannon Dingle will share five ways your church can be a safe place for these children and teens, drawing from experience as a special educator, a disability ministry leader, and a mom to six by birth and adoption. You can register for this webinar here. [...]
New Journeys of Faith Study Series Materials Now Available!
Sunday, November 8th is Orphan Sunday, an opportunity for Christians around the world to collectively impel and activate church, community and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan. In celebration of Orphan Sunday, Faith to Action is pleased to announce the launch of our new Journeys of Faith Study Series! This series, Caring for Orphans and Vulnerable Children: A Study Guide for Journeys of Faith, provides an introduction and overview on topics related to family-based care for orphans and vulnerable children. The series was developed in response to the Journeys of Faith pilot study completed last year. [...]
CAFO Webinar on Gatekeeping
This Wednesday, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will launch the second in a new monthly webinar series, Knowledge + Practice. These webinars translate research into actionable information that OVC care practitioners can implement immediately to elevate the quality of the care they provide. October's webinar focused on child protection policy. You can view this webinar here. The second webinar is called “Gatekeeping: Reducing Unnecessary Entry Into Alternative Care" and will take place on Wednesday, November 4th from 2 PM – 3 PM EST. Dr. Delia Pop of Hope and Homes for Children will explore effective methods for identifying families at [...]
New Resources Available on Strategies for Strengthening Family Care!
The Faith to Action Initiative is excited to announce the release of new resources on strategies for strengthening family care. A Continuum of Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children explains that the best way to serve vulnerable children is to strengthen the capacity of families to care for them. Family-strengthening strategies and services help address many of the root causes of separation from family care. To better understand and engage this topic, the following resources are now available for your use: Webinar 3: Strategies for Strengthening Family Care is the third in a three-part series providing an introduction to [...]
CAFO Webinar on Optimizing Your Child Protection Policy
This Wednesday, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will launch the first in a new monthly webinar series, Knowledge + Practice. These webinars will translate research into actionable information that OVC care practitioners can implement immediately to elevate the quality of the care they provide. The first webinar is called "Optimizing Your Child Protection Policy: Five Key Components For Keeping Children Safe" and will take place on Wednesday, October 21st from 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDT. For more information or to register, please visit CAFO's website.
An Introduction to Better Volunteering on Behalf of Orphans and Vulnerable Children
In recent years, a trend has been on the rise where travelers and short-term mission groups volunteer in residential care facilities with children. When traveling to economically poor countries, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the difficulties that orphans and vulnerable children face, and it is natural to want to take action, but how we engage can make a world of difference. Motivations for volunteering are diverse, and most visitors have good intentions. Many Christian groups have made these types of visits to orphanages during short-term missions trips to provide care for orphans. Other volunteers make this part [...]
OVCsupport.net Webinar Series: Linking HIV and Child Protection
The following news update comes from OVCsupport.net: There is an increasing focus within the children and AIDS community on the need to ensure that child protection contributes to HIV prevention, treatment and mitigation targets. The 2014 Call to Action for Protection, Care and Support for an AIDS-Free Generation emphasizes that global targets to reduce vertical HIV transmission, increase HIV treatment and prevent new HIV infections cannot be achieved without addressing underlying factors of child abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect, along with other social and economic factors that increase HIV vulnerability. The Call to Action comes at a time of [...]
Continuum of Care Resources Now Available!
Faith to Action is excited to announce the launch of three new resources on the continuum of care. The continuum of care provides an overview of a range of alternative care options for children who have been separated from parental care. In keeping with research and evidence-based guidance on the importance of family in the life of a child, the continuum places a high priority on family care while also recognizing the role that temporary residential care and small group homes can play in the spectrum of options to meet individual situations and needs. The continuum of care highlights [...]
Webinar on Transition to Family-Based Care
Next Wednesday, July 22nd, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) will be hosting a webinar related to their "Replicable Models of Transition to Family-Based Care," project. Leaders from Buckner International, ACCIR, and the Akola Project, and will join CAFO President Jedd Medefind and answer audience questions, in addition to presenting on their own experiences. The Faith to Action Initiative is hopeful that many organizations and churches will join the webinar and be inspired to make steps toward engaging in and supporting family-based care. The webinar is scheduled for 2-3:30pm EDT. Register for free today! If you're not able to join [...]
The Justice Conference
Faith to Action is excited to participate in the Justice Conference through this weekend in Chicago, IL. The Justice Conference is a premier gathering for Christian leaders, justice practitioners, students, and learners from all over the world. The conference seeks to leverage the power of community and catalyze the work of justice globally, nationally, locally and personally. The Justice Conference is presented by World Relief and in partnership with several other Christian organizations living out values of justice in work with orphans, widow, racial reconciliation, peace, and so many other salient topics that are critical to the Church today. [...]
Webinar on Key Evidence-Based Strategies to Protect Vulnerable Children
On Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 2pm EST, Christian Alliance For Orphans (CAFO) will host a webinar titled, "Key Evidence-Based Strategies to Protect Vulnerable Children from Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation." The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified a combination of intervention-based actions essential to the protection of children against violence. These complementary interventions, known as THRIVES, are designed to guide countries as they choose a combination of strategies that together have the greatest potential for impact. THRIVES strategies cross health, social services, education, finance, and justice sectors. They include: training in parenting; household economic strengthening; reduced [...]
Faith to Action at CAFO 2015
This week Faith to Action is attending the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Applied Research & Best Practice Symposium and Christian Alliance for Orphans’ CAFO 2015 Summit. The Symposium looks at evidence-based practices for OVC researchers and practitioners and the Summit brings together nearly 3,000 orphan care advocates, pastors, leaders, and foster and adoptive parents from over 35 countries. The event seeks to inspire and equip Christians to care for orphans with wisdom-guided love through exploration family preservation and global orphan ministry, foster care and adoption. The CAFO Summit has become the national hub for what Christianity Today called, “the [...]
International Wholistic Missions Conference in Peoria, AZ this week!
The International Wholistic Missions Conference will commence for a third time April 29th through May 1st in Peoria, AZ with the goal of equipping Christians, churches and organization for word and deed ministries that transform lives and communities. This year's theme is "The Whole Church on Mission" with tracks for On Mission to the Poor, the City, the Workplace and more. As part of the track for On Mission to a Broken World, Leadership Council member Elli Oswald will represent Faith to Action. Elli will facilitate a workshop on Orphans and Vulnerable Children: How Churches Can Support Family and [...]
OVC Resources for you!
Faith to Action is excited to share a great resource with our networks. Since the relaunch of OVCsupport.org in July of last year, there has been a rejuvenated sense of collaboration and sharing of additional resources produced by the OVC community. OVCsupport has been hard at work in their mission to make as much of it as possible easily accessible through their What’s new? blog, featuring articles, announcements, and their expanded news of the week feature, as well as through our ever-growing resource database. Sign up for the OVCsupport bulletin in order to bring some of the highlights directly [...]
Global Leadership Network (GLN) 2015
This week Faith to Action will be participating in The Chalmer Center's GLN 2015. Chalmers' work focuses on helping churches understand poverty, poverty alleviation, and equips churches to better understand how to shift toward a healthier framework of engaging low-income communities in order to empower the poorest of the poor. The GLN 2015 conference will explore helping without hurting in short-term missions as well as church-centered poverty alleviation approaches that empower the poor. Faith to Action is excited to join the conversation and establish relationships with churches and other leaders focused on poverty alleviation best practices. We are also looking forward [...]
Upcoming Webinar from CAFO on February 25th!
Every month, Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), hosts a webinar series in order to give local advocates access to the knowledge and experience of top Alliance member churches and organizations nationwide. Webinars cover key topics on adoption, foster care and/or global orphan care. Each webinar is hosted by a local church orphan ministry and co-presented by one or more national experts on the subject matter. This month's webinar is entitled, "Telling Your Story," and it will focus on the importance of how you tell the story of your ministry to engage others in the work of caring for children. This [...]
Faith to Action Annual Meeting & Task Force Meeting
Faith to Action will hold its annual meeting with the Leadership Council and Advisory Group this Thursday, February 5, 2015 in Washington, DC. Leadership Council and Advisory Group members will share their expertise, skills and resources through active engagement, feedback and action planning. This is an opportunity for Faith to Action to give full reports on projects and deliverables happening over the last year as well as discuss strategic engagement opportunities and plan for the year ahead. Following Faith to Action's annual meeting, Faith to Action will host the Better Practice Network and Referral Task Force Meeting on Friday, [...]
Promoting Family Life, Not Orphanages
Today marks 5 years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The earthquake left much of the capital and surrounding area in ruins in one of the worst natural disasters of modern times. Although the government said more than 300,000 people were killed, the exact toll is unknown because there was no systematic effort to count bodies amid the chaos and destruction. In the midst of the chaos, families were separated and children orphaned. Following the earthquake, teams poured in from around the world to try to help respond, making it one of the most complicated emergency responses to date, [...]
Responding to the Ebola Epidemic
With the largest Ebola epidemic in human history continuing to unfold before the world’s eyes, we have seen the toll it has taken on many aspects of several West African nations. Death is only part of this tragedy. With nearly 5,000 deaths and rising, the question demands an answer- what does this mean for children impacted by this epidemic? According to UNICEF, more than 3,700 children in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have lost one or both parents to Ebola since the outbreak’s start, with over half of these cases coming from Liberia alone. These numbers [...]
Now Available – Key Research on Orphanages and Family Care!
The Faith to Action Initiative’s newest publication Key Research on Orphanages and Family Care: An Annotated Bibliography is available online for download. This resource – a companion to Children, Orphanages, and Families: A Summary of Research to Help Guide Faith-Based Action (Summary of Research) is provided as a working bibliography of key research and evidence-based policy papers on the care of orphans and other vulnerable children separated from parental care. Most of the documents in this bibliography are recent research studies, published within the last seven years. These studies include a range of research methods and approaches, from case studies [...]