A Christmas Connection
A FAM Church Partner, Connected Caseworker, and Connected Foster Family share the significance of partnering together.
“Our foster parents are really the best of the best. We have two Connected foster families who have biological siblings in their respective homes. They have become best friends and constant support in the foster care journey of highs and lows. They get these siblings together quite frequently (beyond the number of required visits) to help them build a bond to last the rest of their lives. They also do frequent FaceTime and in-person visits with the bio great-grandparents, in which the department said it was at their discretion of how many they wanted to do. On their own and out of the goodness of their hearts, the foster families wanted the bio family to be able to get together for a Christmas party that didn’t take place in an office or restaurant. Thanks to our partnership with Journey Church in Jonesboro, the church hosted a beautiful Christmas celebration for the families. The foster parents had donuts, games, presents of photo albums with the kid’s pictures in them, cookie decorating, pizza, and a sweet time for the family to give Christmas gifts to their grandchildren and show them love in a welcoming, private, environment with Christmas trees and tons of cheer. This lasted several hours and all I did as the Connected Caseworker was open up the space and drink some hot chocolate. Then I was able to sit back, and watch our families love big and love hard. I saw the joy in the eyes of the kids and all the adults alike!” ~Alllison Wadkins, Connected Caseworker
Amy Flores, the Connected foster mom of one of the families, shared, “The beauty of foster care is 2 families (or in our case 3) all joining together to love on the children, as well as showing love to each other. It is important and beneficial for the children to see one united family, not a divide between foster family and bio family.”
Maggie Peeler of Journey Church shared, “Thanks to our partnership with Connected, Journey was able to host this beautiful Christmas celebration for these kids to have the chance to celebrate with their bio family in a cozy environment for an extended time.”