IndyStar.com: May 4, 2009
Volunteers care for children temporarily while adults deal with life's challenges
By Melissa Tussing | Posted: May 4, 2009
When Kelli Ball first heard of the Safe Families for Children program
in November, she didn't think a 4-month-old girl would steal her
family's heart.
Ball volunteered this spring to take care of the infant for a few weeks
while the baby's mother escaped an abusive relationship. The little
girl quickly became more than a guest.
"She is part of our family," Ball said. "She is absolutely the best
baby I have ever been around. She has this smile that lights up a room,
even if you're tired at 3 in the morning feeding her."
The mother has moved, found a new job and gone to court against her abuser. Last month, her daughter was returned.
It's a simple idea. A family facing homelessness, hospitalization of a
parent or domestic violence can turn to volunteers for help. For a few
days or weeks, they take in the children until the adults sort out
their problems.
Typically, the state will not step in to help children until they are
facing abuse or neglect. Safe Families hopes to get there before things
become that bad.
"When a family gets into trouble, they have someone to turn to in order
to get help," said Krista Davis, Indianapolis Safe Families director.
"It's sort of the extended family that most of these kids don't have."
Safe Families is not foster care. Parents retain custody of their
children, and the aim is to return the children to their families. The
average stay in Indiana is 29 days, but stays can be as long as seven
months. The Ball family took care of the child for about three weeks,
but the relationship might extend beyond that. Volunteers and the
children they help often remain connected long after their initial
experience.
The program has placed 54 children, ranging from infant to 18 years
old, with 30 host families since starting in Indiana last May.
Spreading success
Safe Families started in Chicago five years ago and is
operating in several cities, including Atlanta, Chattanooga, Tenn., and
Milwaukee.
The Illinois Department of Child Services champions the program and has
provided a $100,000 annual grant to the Chicago Safe Families program
for the past two years. Department spokesman Kendall Marlowe said the
program represents where child welfare should be going.
"Especially when the majority of cases come in for neglect and not
abuse," Marlowe said, "you can see that strengthening and supporting
the family can often be the best way to protect the child."
As the program has expanded into other states, the reaction has been
mixed. Georgia officials, for example, gave $200,000 to help launch the
program, while those in Wisconsin and Tennessee don't embrace the
program at all.
In Indiana, the state has offered some money to help the program run
background checks on volunteers. Safe Families has drawn support from
the Department of Child Services and Prevent Child Abuse Indiana.
But future support remains uncertain while DCS officials figure out how Safe Families fits into their system.
Volunteers
Most recruiting for Safe Families is done in Indianapolis-area churches.
After an application process, families undergo a background check, fingerprinting and a home study.
Safe Families volunteers don't receive compensation, so families also
must prove they can financially support another child before they are
approved. Medicaid covers most of the children's medical needs, and
school-age children are on free breakfast and lunch plans at their
schools, Davis said.
"It's not really that difficult to do," she said. "It's putting another
plate at the table and opening up another bedroom to let someone stay
for a short time."
Though the program requires a sacrifice, host families benefit from helping out, too.
"The beautiful thing about Safe Families' philosophy is to make the
child a member of your family," said Linda Znachko, whose family has
hosted a 3-year-old boy intermittently since November. "We fell in love
with this child."
By forming a relationship between host families and children, Safe
Families does more than just put a Band-Aid on a family's crisis
situation.
"It encourages long-term support and a safety net," said Davis, who has been a foster parent for 35 children.
Support for the biological families includes help with finding housing,
resume writing and getting a car. A social worker checks in with both
the biological and host families each week.
One parent who turned to Safe Families was facing abuse and couldn't
escape because she had no place to live with her four children. The
Star is not naming the woman because she fears her abuser might find
her again.
She placed her children in Safe Families on March 24.
"It helped me to find a job and take time for myself to get my thoughts
together," she said. "A year ago I was in a shelter. Now I'm in a new
house."
Call Star reporter Melissa Tussing at (317) 444-6084.