An exciting new project for Teaching Like Jesus Ministries!
Covenants for Kids is a project designed to help churches help children in foster care. Congregations "adopt" a foster child and engage that child in the life of its ministry by bringing that child to church to attend morning service, Sunday School, Children's Church, Youth Group, Choir, Vacation Bible School, and other church events. Here's how it works: Volunteers become trained mentors by (1) completing a live-scan and receiving clearance from the Department of Children and Family Services, and; (2) successfully completing a half-day training.
At a pastor's invite, Dr. Tolbert will visit your church on a Sunday morning and show a brief 2.5 minute video that explains Covenants for Kids. If time permits, she will also share a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation with an overview of the need for more of us to be involved in adoption and foster care. It's a reminder that the church's responsibility is to "visit orphans...in their distress" (James 1:27).
Following service, members complete an information sheet and sign up to become a trained mentor. Once cleared, they will drive to the foster child's home and bring that child to church. It's that easy...because every child deserves a church family. For more information or to bring this ministry to your church, visit our Contact Us page or Email: drtolbert@teachinglikejesus.org.
At a pastor's invite, Dr. Tolbert will visit your church on a Sunday morning and show a brief 2.5 minute video that explains Covenants for Kids. If time permits, she will also share a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation with an overview of the need for more of us to be involved in adoption and foster care. It's a reminder that the church's responsibility is to "visit orphans...in their distress" (James 1:27).
Following service, members complete an information sheet and sign up to become a trained mentor. Once cleared, they will drive to the foster child's home and bring that child to church. It's that easy...because every child deserves a church family. For more information or to bring this ministry to your church, visit our Contact Us page or Email: drtolbert@teachinglikejesus.org.
Why Covenants for Kids
There is a crisis in America.
There are over 500,000 children nationwide who are being raised in the foster care system.[1] The largest state in the nation, California, has the highest number of children in foster care—approximately 105,000. Many of these children are black and Hispanic, and many are physically or emotionally disabled.
African American children are significantly over-represented and constitute 40-50% of those in foster care. Although only 12% of the overall United States population is black, one-third of all foster care children are African American. These are the most difficult children to place in foster or adoptive homes. As a result, black children remain in the system longer[2] averaging 10 years or more and represent the largest proportion of children in out-of-home care nationally.[3] The result: too many African American children grow up institutionalized.[4]
Why are children in the system? The answer is threefold: abandonment, abuse, and neglect. Abandonment is desertion by a parent or primary caregiver who has neither made provisions for childcare nor has any apparent intention to return to take care of his/her child. Abuse and neglect encompass physical, sexual, or emotional maltreatment by a parent or caretaker who is responsible for the child's welfare—food, clothing, shelter.[5]
Of the total number of children in the system, almost half or 48% are living with relatives in what’s termed “kinship foster care”. In this mutual arrangement, once the problem that caused the separation from the birth parent/s is resolved, children are returned to their birth family.
Unfortunately, many children do not enjoy kinship foster care and will never be reunited with their families. The result is that every day throughout the United States, 3,000 children need permanent adoptive families and/or connections with adults that will last once they are emancipated from the system. In Los Angeles, 500 children are immediately available for adoption today.
The church has a mandate to help: "External religious worship (religion as it is expressed in outward acts) that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep onself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world," (James 1:27 Amplified Version).
[1] Dr. Phil, May 25, 2009
[2] Hough, R. L., Landsverk, J.A., McCabe, K. M., Yeh, M., Ganger, W.C., Reynolds, B. J. (2000). Racial and ethnic variations in mental health care utilization among children in foster care. Children’s Service: Social Policy, Research, & Practice. 3(3), 133-146.
[3] Smith, C. J. & Devore, W. (2004). African American children in the child welfare and kinship system: From exclusion to over inclusion. Children and Youth Services Review. 26(5), 427-446.
[4] Singleton, S. & Roseman, F. (2004). Minister’s perceptions of foster care, adoptions, and the role of the black church. Adoption Quarterly. 7(3). 79-91.
[5] www.cakidsconnection.com
Excerpted from paper, "Orphans Among Us: Evaluating the Ministry Needs of African American Children in Foster Care" presented at the Society for Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, Concordia, Illinois (2009). www.childspirituality.org
There are over 500,000 children nationwide who are being raised in the foster care system.[1] The largest state in the nation, California, has the highest number of children in foster care—approximately 105,000. Many of these children are black and Hispanic, and many are physically or emotionally disabled.
African American children are significantly over-represented and constitute 40-50% of those in foster care. Although only 12% of the overall United States population is black, one-third of all foster care children are African American. These are the most difficult children to place in foster or adoptive homes. As a result, black children remain in the system longer[2] averaging 10 years or more and represent the largest proportion of children in out-of-home care nationally.[3] The result: too many African American children grow up institutionalized.[4]
Why are children in the system? The answer is threefold: abandonment, abuse, and neglect. Abandonment is desertion by a parent or primary caregiver who has neither made provisions for childcare nor has any apparent intention to return to take care of his/her child. Abuse and neglect encompass physical, sexual, or emotional maltreatment by a parent or caretaker who is responsible for the child's welfare—food, clothing, shelter.[5]
Of the total number of children in the system, almost half or 48% are living with relatives in what’s termed “kinship foster care”. In this mutual arrangement, once the problem that caused the separation from the birth parent/s is resolved, children are returned to their birth family.
Unfortunately, many children do not enjoy kinship foster care and will never be reunited with their families. The result is that every day throughout the United States, 3,000 children need permanent adoptive families and/or connections with adults that will last once they are emancipated from the system. In Los Angeles, 500 children are immediately available for adoption today.
The church has a mandate to help: "External religious worship (religion as it is expressed in outward acts) that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep onself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world," (James 1:27 Amplified Version).
[1] Dr. Phil, May 25, 2009
[2] Hough, R. L., Landsverk, J.A., McCabe, K. M., Yeh, M., Ganger, W.C., Reynolds, B. J. (2000). Racial and ethnic variations in mental health care utilization among children in foster care. Children’s Service: Social Policy, Research, & Practice. 3(3), 133-146.
[3] Smith, C. J. & Devore, W. (2004). African American children in the child welfare and kinship system: From exclusion to over inclusion. Children and Youth Services Review. 26(5), 427-446.
[4] Singleton, S. & Roseman, F. (2004). Minister’s perceptions of foster care, adoptions, and the role of the black church. Adoption Quarterly. 7(3). 79-91.
[5] www.cakidsconnection.com
Excerpted from paper, "Orphans Among Us: Evaluating the Ministry Needs of African American Children in Foster Care" presented at the Society for Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives, Concordia, Illinois (2009). www.childspirituality.org