Dare to Care (for Kids): Current & Interested Foster Families (Kids, too!)

4100 Millersburg Road,Evansville IN 47725

26 March, 2022

Description

A collaboratively hosted event with DCS and local foster care providers intended for current and prospective foster families. Are you for kids in our region? Learn how you can be or become more intentionally for kids! There is an unprecedented need today for strong and stable resource homes that are supported through natural and formal supports to provide the appropriate love and care for children in need of services. In November 2021, there were 653 children in the Southwest Indiana area (Region 16) who were placed in out-of-home care. This is more than some entire states! While many of these children were able to remain in the care of other family members, nearly half of them were placed in non-relative foster care. To further highlight the need for Resource (Foster) Families, only 52% of those children in out-of-home care were able to remain in their county of origin and only 75% of siblings were able to be placed in the same home. The Dare to Care event focuses on the retention and recruitment of current and potential Resource (Foster) Families. Families are able to come and go as it fits their schedule, and lunch will be provided. Please register so we can plan accordingly for food and approved volunteers for child care. The goals of the Dare to Care event are: Connect Resource Families with each other, providers, and local organizations committed to supporting families who have opened their homes to youth in careProvide varied and valuable training through breakout sessions that will expand the parenting capacities of our already licensed familiesCreate a unique, informative, and informal environment for potential Resource Families to learn more about the licensing process, hear from experienced homes on the realities of providing foster care, and find other ways to “test the waters” and support our already licensed homes if they themselves are not ready to commitThe Dare to Care event has been developed with the help and input of community organizations such as Stand Up Foundation, Borrowed Hearts Foundation, For Evansville, The Isaiah 1:17 Project, Isaiah 1:17 House, Indiana Kids Belong, Foster Care in the U.S., and TTR Haven Over the Hilltop. We want Evansville to be a city where every person experiences love and gives love; every person prioritizes the holistic wellbeing of all people; and every person’s work provides community value and individual purpose.  Citywide flourishing happens when every person in the city flourishes. We pursue the fruitfulness of every person by bringing people together to solve our city's most pressing needs. We convene church and community leaders, cultivate the mindsets and language necessary for collaboration, and storytell about the way things are and the way things should be. Our ultimate goal is to cultivate collaboration between churches and others in the city around the city’s needs and dreams that align with God’s mission. For Evansville seeks to facilitate the formation and/or the sustainability and effectiveness of centered sets in the Greater Evansville area.  Centered sets are mini Collective Impact cohorts of organizations, businesses, schools, government agencies, and churches that care about the same issue or geographic area.  Rather than operating in bounded set mentalities that rule out cross-sector collaboration, centered set mindsets and structures foster effective collaboration.  We are deeply committed to seeing churches and the channels of culture thrive for the flourishing of the Tri-State area.  We support centered sets at www.forevansville.org, we storytell at www.leftturnproductions.com, and we provide education about city transformation at www.cityshelf.org.