Child Welfare Information Gateway- Spotlight on National Foster Care Month
Handbook Advises on Building Community Programs
What do communities need to know in order to start programs for children in foster care? How much time and money is involved? What resources are available? Inquiries such as these led to the creation of Guardian Angels—Helping Children in Foster Care—A Handbook for Building Community Programs, a guide for communities that want to create local enrichment programs.
Titled Guardian Angels—the image of an unseen, but always present and caring helper—and produced by The Families for Kids Partnership of Washington State, the handbook focuses on communities within the State of Washington but the principles and information can be used in any community. Barbara Fenster, the author, provides examples, outlines, tips, and suggestions from people who have created their own programs with the goal of giving children in foster care the everyday experiences of a normal childhood.
The handbook includes:
- An outline to follow through the process of program start-up
- Basics about community organizing, program start-up and management
- Examples from five models of community-based enrichment organizations
- Tips from these enrichment programs
- Suggestions for further reading and contacts
- A list of other available materials.
The Families for Kids Partnership offers free consultation and/or technical assistance within the United States to anyone who would like assistance in starting a program. For more information about this, contact:
Families for Kids Partnership
Phone: toll free at 800-456-3339 ext. 271 or 206-695-3271
Email: BarbFFKP@aol.com
Website: http://www.ffkpartnership.org
The Guardian Angels handbook is available in PDF format at http://www.childrenshomesociety.org/GuardianAngelHandbook.pdf.
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