Purpose
Covenant Foster Care (CFC) is a community-based service for
seriously emotionally disturbed children. CFC will recruit,
train and certify foster families to provide services and
supports to teens and children from Child Protective Services.
CFC provides a less restrictive environment than residential
treatment or a group home, but more than could be provided by
traditional foster care, outpatient or after care services.
Children are placed in CFC therapeutic foster family homes when
their behavior indicates that they would be able to respond to
the intimacy and support of a family relationship. Children
referred to CFC will have “special needs” in which the degree of
emotional behavioral disturbance rules out regular foster
placement, that is, a foster home that has not had training or
on-going support in dealing with the special needs of
emotionally disturbed children.
Children served in CFC range in age from birth to 18 years with
histories that may include physical, sexual and emotional abuse
and neglect, emotional and behavioral problems. Often, these
children have experienced multiple placements and educational
difficulties.
The purpose of CFC is to re-unify children with their biological
family (when deemed possible by the Juvenile Justice System), to
re-integrate children into more normalized living situations
within the community, and to provide social and practical
services and to help reduce the children's emotional, social,
educational, physical, and behavioral problems. Permanency
planning is emphasized for each child, whether that means to
continue a reunification process between the child and the birth
family or to develop long-term plans such as guardianship,
adoption or emancipation.
CFC recruits, trains, certifies, supervises and supports foster
families who are willing to open their hearts and homes to the
children we serve. A CFC clinical social worker and a foster
family are a treatment team serving the foster child. Foster
parents meet regularly with CFC clinical social workers to
develop consistent behavioral guidelines and loving, supportive
acknowledgement of the child's growth and development. The
foster families provide food, clothing, a comfortable and safe
home, a caring and compassionate heart, and a lot of patient
understanding and structure. Foster families can be very
different in lifestyle, income, education, race, creed, and do
not need to be married. Foster parents can be employed outside
the home as long as suitable childcare is available. CFC strives
to match the interests and strengths of the foster family with
the needs of the foster child.
In all,
CFC
exists to bring hope to the hopeless
children in foster care through Christ-based services that model
and develop strength, unconditional love, family unity,
community and empowerment. Foster families that are well
recruited, well trained, well monitored and well mentored will
achieve these purposes. The foster families will be equipped by
staff having a heart to reach hurting children and a willingness
to empower, educate and lead foster families to their maximum
potential.
Philosophy
CFC operates on a belief that the family is the most important
of social institutions. The family is the primary source of all
influences, social mores, values, attitudes, beliefs and
behaviors.
CFC is dedicated to the preservation of the family and the
belief that each child should have the opportunity to live in a
nurturing family environment, and is best served in such.
Additionally, CFC firmly believes that effective treatment and
care for individuals must focus on the entire person, and
facilitate physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
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