CAPE CORAL, FL—Giving hope to families is the mission of a new program in Southwest Florida. It helps families in crisis get back on their feet. It is called Safe Families and has been opened since January. They have helped hundreds of families in Southwest Florida.
They offer support and help when families need it most.
“If we can get the children out of the home and get the parents back on their feet than the neglect and abuse is just completely avoided,” said Tammy Bauer Safe Families outreach coordinator.
But the placement is only temporary. Bauer says their goal is to keep children from going into foster care.
“They’re just giving us temporary guardianship and power of attorney for medical care while were caring for their child, but our whole goal of the program is unification with that family.”
On average, Bauer says, children who are placed in foster care stay there 717 days—here in lee county 3 children go into foster care every day. Megan Rose is the area director but is also a host parent. She and her husband took in one-year-old Brett.
“We weren’t really expecting to do this but when we heard about Brett we decided to take him in and I’m so excited we did.”
After only a few weeks, Brett and his mom were reunited just in time to celebrate his first birthday.
With 75 locations in 25 states, the program has hosted 17 thousand children since 2002. The program works through local churches and area always in need of volunteers to be host families.
Source: NBC-2.com