Mission:
To empower Grace Chapel to “look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27) by caring for children and families impacted by foster care and adoption.
Vision:
We dream of a day when every child impacted by foster care within our geographical area has a safe, well-supported family to care for them.
Need:
There are 9000 children currently in Massachusetts’ foster system with 2800 of these are still waiting for a home in which to be placed.
Partnerships:
Grace Chapel is partnering with Fostering Hope (www.fosteringhope.org) and DCF (Department of Children and Families) to provide support to Foster Families in our church and the area in the following ways:
- Prayer: We utilize the Grace Chapel Prayer Bulletin and Fostering Hope’s Prayer Team in praying for the Foster Care needs in Greater Boston
- Awareness: We host various events (movies, panels, special speakers, etc) to bring awareness of the tremendous need of the foster care crisis in our area.
- Care Teams: Our Foster Care Ministry Volunteers provide wrap around support for foster and adoptive families through babysitting, mentoring, rides, laundry, respite, meals and other practical family needs
- Trauma Training: We provide, through Fostering Hope, trauma informed training for all families and volunteers.
- Partnering with DCF and Network Churches: We endeavor to support and be a “go-to” partner with DCF and Network Churches resulting in increased social worker retention and better outcomes for youth in care.
- Increased Foster/Adoptive Families: We endeavor to increase the number of foster/adoptive families and thus reduce the number of youths without homes
