Programs > Safe Families

Safe Family Network

Circle Urban is operating the Safe Families Program as a Network Partner of Lydia Home Association.

Safe Families for Children is a network of host families, volunteers, non-profit agencies, and churches that extends the community safety net by providing parents in need support to help them care for their children. The Safe Families movement is a perspective/concept that the safety and health of children in our communities is all of our responsibilities, and that the birth parents are the key to providing that safety for their children. So...Safe Families is about strengthening and supporting parents so they can be Safe Families for their children.

The theology regarding God's promise that he puts the lonely in a family is manifested in this primary relationship between two families. The network of resources that will surround this relationship is established by geography and includes those committed to strengthening and supporting families. Families experiencing a crisis can engage in the Safe Family network to receive the support they need to keep their children safe and well cared for. The family is the primary healer. Children will be safe and well-cared for if families in crisis have a safety net of support.

To learn more about this vital effort to support families in our community, or find out how you or your church can become involved, please email us at safefamilies@circleurban.org.

   

Safe Families Program Goals

The Safe Families Program strives to meet three objectives:

  1. Child Welfare Deflection: Safe Families provides a safe alternative to child welfare custody, thus significantly reducing the number of children entering the child welfare system
  2. Child Abuse Prevention: Providing an overwhelmed and resource limited parent with a safe, temporary place for their child without threat of losing custody can avert potential abuse/neglect episodes.
  3. Family Support and Stabilization: Many parents struggle because of limited informal social supports and unavailable extended family. Many Safe Families become the extended family that a parent never had.