Tangible support in a difficult time.
The Family Support Initiative was created to provide an easily accessible process to support families impacted by foster care who were experiencing need or crisis due to the COVID pandemic. Child welfare professionals and advocates in certain regions of Massachusetts could request tangible support on behalf of the families they work with. We did not wish to replace or circumvent sustainable community resources and services. Instead, we empowered local churches to provide relief in gaps families might experience in social services as workers develop plans with the family to access more sustainable supports.
If you are a worker who submitted a request for a family, we are so grateful for the opportunity to support your critical work. We were honored to have responded to more than 650 requests across six catchments in a little over two years. We are excited to continue to find ways to support children families and child welfare professionals and leverage the time, energy and resources of our partners to help families impacted by foster care experience wholeness and sustainability.
The Family Support Initiative is Closing.
It has been an incredible privilege to come alongside child welfare professionals as you serve children and families impacted by foster care! After more than two years of providing resources to families experiencing moments of crisis or transition caused by the pandemic, we have decided to bring the Family Support Initiative to a close this June. Thank you for allowing us to support you as you work so hard to help families find critical resources and support.
WHO & WHAT
WHO WE SUPPORT
We provide support for DCF-involved families and youth including:
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Intact Families
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Kinship Families
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Foster Families
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Pre-Adoptive Families
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Youth in Congregate Care
WHAT WE PROVIDE
Items commonly requested on behalf of families and youth:
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Diapers
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Wipes
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Formula
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Grocery Gift Cards
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Grocery Purchase & Delivery
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Clothing
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Other Misc. Resources
ABOUT THIS WORK
As the prevalence of COVID grew and necessitated expanding levels of protective response, everything was turned on its head for so many. In the foster care community, life was suddenly very different for foster families, families of origin, child welfare agencies and workers, court systems, therapeutic resources, and more. At the same time, churches in the Fostering Hope network began to ask if there were needs in the foster care community that they could help provide for. So leaders at Fostering Hope New England reached out to leaders at the Department of Children and Families and MSPCC to try to understand the emerging needs of their office and the families and children they support. DCF indicated that, due to circumstances related to COVID, some families were experiencing gaps in social systems and resources and were having difficulty accessing essentials like diapers, wipes, formula, groceries, clothing and more.
With feedback from DCF, MSPCC and leaders at churches connected to Fostering Hope and TFI’s networks in Eastern MA, we sought to create a scalable system to respond to these tangible needs. The Family Support Initiative allows child welfare professionals and advocates to share real-time needs their families are experiencing and empowers area churches to respond. Though our capacity limits us from being able to serve all 29 DCF area offices in MA, we are slowly making this system available to more DCF area offices and advocates in regions throughout Eastern Massachusetts.
OUR TEAM
To make this work possible, Fostering Hope New England is partnering with churches throughout Eastern Massachusetts and with other regional organizations already doing good work to serve the foster care community.
Churches provide the volunteers and resources to make supporting families possible. Individual churches who are interested in participating in this work are organized for collaboration geographically. When a request for support is submitted by a child welfare professional or advocate, an area church is invited to respond to needs of the family.
In certain DCF catchments we are partnering with Advocates from the Forgotten Initiative, working together to better support families.
Learn more about The Forgotten Initiative.
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The Foster Box is a valuable partner, helping to provide clothing and children's supplies in some DCF catchments.
Learn more about The Foster Box.
