Help One Child Ambassador Program - Partnering with Churches to Expand Our Reach

Help One Child is pioneering a new church partnership, inviting churches to bring the Ambassador Program to their church community by creating a Help One Child “satellite site.” Help One child's Ambassador Program seeks to deploy the model, services and programs of Help One Child through church ministry teams, leveraging already existing relationships found within church communities to help foster children. Help One Child's dream is to equip churches to become the number one tool to find loving families for foster children in our region. In May of 2006 the first three ministry launches took place at WestGate Church, San Jose; South Valley Christian Church, San Jose; and St. Mary Parish, Gilroy, with more that followed in the ensuing months.





The impetus to create this program was to conveniently deploy services and programs from within a church congregation and to leverage already existing relational networks found in churches. If a family decides to foster a child, there will be people from within their own church, people they see on a regular basis, prepared and ready to baby-sit, pray for them and provide other kinds of support.



Churches interested in establishing an urban ministry to foster and adoptive children receive a proven program model as well as the resources, materials and training required to do so. While positioned as a “ministry in a box,” the Ambassador Program takes a unique shape at each congregation. Here is a look at some of the ministry teams that are tailoring the program to fit the unique needs of their church’s foster and adoptive families.

The St. Mary Parish ministry team believes that by lifting up the families who are already involved, others will be inspired to follow suit. So their approach was to highlight an adoptive parish family in the weekly bulletin and ask other foster parents to address the congregation.
The weekly bulletin reaches approximately 1,500 people and is their church’s primary communication vehicle. This activity generated interest from both prospective foster parents and raised volunteers for current foster families. St. Mary’s will work closely with Help One Child to support the county’s child specific recruiting efforts in their area.
The Ambassador Program has created more contacts that can bridge the Spanish and English-speaking communities and help fill the need for more Spanish-speaking foster homes in South County.

WestGate Church’s Children’s Ministry Pastor Joel King and his wife Lyn, who have adopted all four of their children from foster care, exemplify the level of commitment that many WestGate families have already demonstrated.
From adoptive parents to potential foster parents to people who professionally work on behalf of children such as a Home Economics teacher, neonatal nurse, and an attorney with the DA’s office, people came out of the woodwork to form a diverse team of support at the church.
Another exciting aspect of the ministry is the proximity to the S.T.A.R. group home, where teens in foster care are in need of mentors. Two young women stepped forward right away to fill those roles. The connection to S.T.A.R. will provide service opportunities in the future for church members.

Foster parents Don and Robyn Dequine--with a mission to care for infants in foster care--have been at the forefront of foster care ministry at SVCC for the last four and half years. Longtime Help One Child employee and foster parent, Mary Johnson, has also advocated to raise awareness of the needs of foster children. Thus, the May 17th Ambassador Program launch at SVCC was the culmination of a dream and the formalization of a foster care ministry in partnership with Help One Child.
The Dequines’ example has raised up many other foster families and the church has even hosted the county’s PRIDE trainings for pre-licensed foster parents. With Help One Child matching the new volunteers to assist families, the ministry is poised to grow and take off like it always has--through word of mouth, which so far has motivated five new families to foster parent with more to follow.

Valley Springs Presbyterian
PBC
MPPC

Having adopted and raised a son out of foster care, Paul and Joanne Jelle know the challenges. “When our family decided to adopt our son, Carl, we had three things that kept us going,” Joanne says. “We believed in God’s sovereignty, goodness and provision. We had a Christian therapist who specialized in children with attachment issues, and we had a Christian community that supported us with prayer and with practical care.”
After losing their adopted son Carl at age 20 in a vehicle accident, the Jelles are finding healing in God’s leading them to build a stronger community around foster and adoptive families. Their Sacramento area church, Valley Springs Presbyterian in Roseville, has stepped forward to become a Help One Child Ambassador Church. The Jelles are calling the church’s foster care ministry “Heart To Heart,” and hope it will encourage more families to open their hearts to foster children.

The Heart To Heart ministry offers a Parent Child Connection meeting facilitating by Carla Derose, a licensed therapist and adoptive mother.

For the last 20 years, foster parents Dan and Judi Van Elderen have cared for infants and toddlers and planted seeds. During the March 18th PBC Sunday School hour on “equipping for ministry,” Dan and Judi met with 25 other interested adults to discuss the orphan’s plight as highlighted in Scripture.
Of the 25 adults who attended the first meeting, there were families who have adopted internationally, those interested in adoption through foster care, those interested in more information on different types of adoption and others who feel called to be a circle of support.
The cross-section of interests and the seasoned families such as the Van Elderens who have fostered 44 children and the Anackers who adopted a sibling set of five from Russia, create a wealth of knowledge and experience to guide families who are beginning the process.

For many years MPPC has supported the ministry through quarterly grant funding and special services. This past year, after deploying over 160 volunteers and support from many individual donors, all three church campuses have committed to deepening their service to at-risk children through Help One Child. Over 162 volunteers come from their main campus to engage in HOC’s ministry. Woody and Judy Hobbs (an MPPC Deacon) are two of these volunteers who are currently in the final process of becoming respite foster parents. Just recently they have invited an emancipated youth into their home as they come along side her in order for her to complete high school and secure a more permanent living situation. Judy was also our Dean of Women, a critical support position, at Signs of Hope Camp this August.
Open Door San Mateo
Open Door Mountain View
Your Church??

Through the past year, volunteers from MPPC’s North “Open Door Church” Campus have explored ways they can put their hearts and their hands in service for the ministry. Screened and trained volunteers have cooked and shared a meal alongside adolescents recently placed at the County’s Receiving Home through the ministry’s Tuesday Night Supper Club program. On June 26, 2009, the campus hosted its first “Parents’ Night Out” for families in their region. This September of 2010, Kevin Kim, Director of Justice and Mission has committed Open Door Church San Mateo as an Ambassador Church. Dave and Shirley Bostic are long time foster parents and faithful HOC volunteers ministering to infants with health issues. Justin and Julie Lam are also HOC volunteers and Foster Parents in--process.

MPPC’s South “Open Door Church” Campus continued its support of the ministry by hosting two “Parents’ Night Out” events, deploying” over 75 volunteers who cooked, created crafts, played games, read stories and rocked babies while foster parents took a much-needed evening off! At the Open Door Church Mountain View we are currently working with Mission Outreach Chair, Bridget McNiel. ODCMV will be participating in our Giving Tree ministry as well as holding a small group leader orientation.

 		If you would like to bring Help One Child to your church please sign up with our volunteer form.
Help One Child Ambassador Program equips and trains churches to in the following areas:
  • Program Overview and Objectives
  • How to Launching the Ministry
  • Ministry Team Management – Roles, Meeting Notes, and Team Roster
  • Ongoing Ministry Promotion, Activities and Building the Ministry Calendar
  • Program Reference Materials (Sample Documents, etc.)
  • Resources and Recommended Reading
  • Help One Child Corporate Resources
  • Statistics and Info on the Foster Care System, Foster Family Agencies and the DFCS