One mother's plea sparks a life-changing organization for families in need

When families are devastated with unfortunate life events, children are sometimes positioned to become a collateral damage in an often overburdened foster care system. Safe Families for Children provides a much proper alternative.

MUNTILUNLPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Safe Families for Children is a program that partners with and works through local churches to offer an alternative to the foster care system. They aim to quickly reunite parents with their children without the whole "red tape" that sometimes come along with the foster care arrangement.

Andrew Brown, a senior associate with the Foundation for Government Accountability an organization, that is now working to develop a Safe Families regulation that would allow more states to open up chapters, explained "Safe Families, by allowing a parent to place their children with a safe, supportive host family, protects kids by removing them from unstable situations, ensuring that they are well cared for until the issues are addressed and stability is achieved at home."

The parent is given support to enable him or her to navigate their problems without the fear of losing custody of their children.

"By offering voluntary support to the family in the form of temporary care for children and practical resources to address the issues that led the parent to seek help, Safe Families is able to avoid potential episodes of abuse or neglect," Brown stated.

The services provided for families in need go far beyond simply caring for the children as a relationship is built on trust and understanding.

With this program, the process to get a child placed in a home takes just hours and other volunteers can participate in the process to help the host family. Unlike in foster care situations, parents still have their full rights when they appeal to Safe Families for assistance.

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