This post is written by Deacon Liz Stewart, a longtime volunteer with Together for Good.
One of our supported ministry partners, Together for Good (TFG), creates pathways for the local church to come alongside vulnerable children and families in Christ-centered ministry. Each week, they send out a list of Hosting Opportunities to host families who take kids into their homes while parents get back on their feet. Examples include:
A single mom caring for a child with medical needs needs care for her 1.5 year-old son and her 4 year-old daughter. Her son was born with a rare genetic condition and has a G-tube, so she prefers a family with some medical training.
A mom dealing with a domestic abuse situation is seeking respite care for her 2 year-old son.
A mother who is new to TFG doesn't have any support system and would love to schedule a weekend hosting for her 2 year-old twin boys.
A mom in recovery can attend a sobriety retreat if she is able to get a hosting for her 9 month old son.
Dn. Liz and her young TFG friend.
Walking With Those in Distress
When parents face a crisis without a support system, lives can unravel quickly and the risk of trauma for children increases. TFG wants to ensure that vulnerable families never walk alone, that children are safe and wherever possible, that families are able to stay together.
Creating Pathways for the Church
Together For Good has a vision for circles of care around vulnerable families that includes hosts, advocates and the local church, with TFG staff there for professional support and oversight. Whenever it’s possible to do so, connecting a participant parent to a host family that’s geographically near, opens the possibility that in time, that vulnerable family might be welcomed into a church family as well, surrounded by healthy relationships and layers of wrap-around care.
Many Ways to Help Care for Our Neighbor
Hosting: Together for Good offers a safe home for children so that parents can pursue stability. Host families are trained volunteers who welcome at-risk children into their homes for short-term or long-term care.
Advocacy: Social isolation of parents is one of the biggest contributors to abuse and neglect of children. Advocates don’t care for children but instead are there for the parent to provide ongoing encouragement and friendship. A coffee date, help with household tasks or errands, just being a person who can be called on a couple of times a month for support and a listening ear - are all ways advocates provide care to a mom, decreasing her sense of isolation.
Resource Team: Local churches with families who are hosting children have a team of volunteers who offer support by praying, bringing a meal, stocking a resource closet with diapers and other supplies host families might need.
Learn more about volunteer opportunities.
It’s a Family Affair
I have volunteered with Together For Good for about eight years and in that time have hosted a child weekly for a couple of years, served in the ministry coordinator role, and now as an Advocate for a sweet mom and her two sunny daughters.
lt would be easy to think the care and the blessing are one-directional. I knew to anticipate that this kind of work could be difficult, messy, upsetting at times, and take me way outside of my comfort zone. It’s been all those things. What I didn’t anticipate was having a front row seat at times to displays of God’s love for vulnerable moms and kids or how getting to know them and seeing beyond troubles to unique personalities and abilities would be such a gift of wonder. I didn’t know how it would feel to be caring along with so many others - my family, my church and recently, our Restoration Table Group, who jumped in with hours of willing help to get the mom I’m an advocate for ready for an apartment inspection.
Stewarts saying, “See you next time!” to a little girl who knows she’s loved.
I couldn’t have anticipated the times I’ve been a witness to God’s deep and active compassion for the suffering and the downtrodden. He’s close to them. Getting in a little closer to vulnerable children and parents means being a little closer to Him as well.
