Safe Families for Children


Open the Door to Change

Safe Families for Children offers volunteers an opportunity to transform their communities by reaching out to care for children whose parents are going through a difficult time. Right from their own home, families participate in ministry together by offering hospitality, hope, and the love of Christ to a family experiencing a crisis that could temporarily jeopardize their ability to provide safety and stability for their children.

As a Safe Family, volunteers host children for a short period of time, allowing the child's parent(s) to focus on resolving the issues that led to the crisis. The average length of a child's stay in a Safe Family home is 45 days, but is assessed on a case by case basis and can vary in length depending on the needs of the child and each family. After being screened and trained by Bethany Christian Services staff, volunteers become part of a support team for children, coming alongside families in crisis to care for them as they regain strength and stability. Because children are placed with a Safe Family voluntarily, parents never have to worry about losing custody of their children while they work out their problems. Safe Families is not foster care or adoption; the goal of the program is to reunite children with their biological parent(s) in a home that is more stable and healthy, in part because of the contribution of the Safe Families intervention.

Mothers and fathers going through temporary crisis can ask for a volunteer Safe Family to host their children (newborn through 17 years of age) while they work towards resolving the issues that led to the difficulty they are facing. Most of the children placed with a Safe Family are six years old or younger. Whenever possible, children stay with a family that lives in their same community and during their stay, they remain in contact with their biological parents through phone calls and visits. In addition to screening and training volunteers, Bethany staff also help biological parents identify steps to stability and offer support to them during the placement. Some of the situations that tend to be short-term in nature in which Safe Families is able to offer help include: sudden loss of employment or housing, post-partum depression; acute illness; physical injury; financial instability; relational stress; and teenage pregnancy.

It is important that children and parents maintain their attachment and connection to each other as much as possible, even when they are not living under the same roof. Biological parents are encouraged to remain actively involved in their children's lives during placement and develop a relationship with the volunteer family. Bethany staff also stay in touch with biological parents to encourage them in the steps they are taking towards stability and work with them to identify a time when the family can be reunited.

Safe Families has a proven record of safely and successfully helping families recover from crisis. Lydia Home Association in Chicago, Illinois, started Safe Families in 2002, and the program is now in several other cities and states. Last year, more than 300 families served as Safe Families volunteers in Chicago and the program placed more than 500 children. Bethany’s Safe Families for Children program operates in partnership with Lydia Home Association and is fully funded by Family Services of Metro Orlando.

For More Information or To Get Involved as a Volunteer:

    · Contact Us and request an information packet on becoming a Safe Family.

    · Call or email Alison Schminke, Safe Family Coordinator at 407.877.4006 or aschminke@bethany.org

    · Attend one of our information meetings.

    · Visit the main website for Safe Families


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