Campus Leads (the Fostering Together point people at each campus) create an engineered extended family that invests in life-changing relationships with children in foster care. Their investment in the children help foster and adoptive families thrive.

The isolation that many foster and adoptive families experience on a daily basis is a reality. Care Communities are a powerful approach to relieving that burden. Care Communities are designed to meet the specific needs of the children. In this section, you will learn how we recruit, engage, implement, and manage our Care Community-based ministry.

Recruit and Administer Care Communities

If you’re beginning to explore the idea of Care Communities, visit our website for more information about our strategies for recruiting families.

Our mission is to invest in life-changing relationships with children in foster care. Our goal is to see foster families and the children they foster receive extended family-style support. To accomplish this, we facilitate the development of Care Communities for foster families. We want foster families to thrive as a result of having their Care Communities nearby and active in their lives and the lives of the children they foster.

Manage Relationships with Approving Organizations

Building relationships with approving organizations benefits the flexibility of your ministry and the level of support you’re able to offer your families. A great way to begin these relationships is to acknowledge the challenging work they’re already doing. By highlighting the impact a stable Care Community has on a child and family and by making the process of partnership as easy as possible for the organization, you can begin to walk alongside that organization to support your families. It can take time to demonstrate the value of Care Communities and partnership with an approving organization. Clear and routine communication is key.

Implement and Administer Care Community Communication Tools

Care Communities are a vital part of providing a sense of extended family for foster families and children. The success of a Care Community largely depends on the communication between the foster family, respite family, and supporting mentors. A Care Community that doesn’t have an effective communication tool will not function at its best capacity. There are many different communication strategies, and each Care Community must be equipped with the one that will work best for all involved—especially the foster parents.

Visit our resources page for documents that will help you create Care Communities.