Find out how nonprofits, faith communities, and philanthropies are implementing creative ways to serve and support children and families in their states.
Arizona: Community partners are meeting the needs of children and families
Arizona 1.27
AZ 1.27 is a church-based movement that supports the needs of the Arizona child welfare system. Churches in this movement support the mission of the Arizona Department of Child Safety by donating space to host AZ Families Thrive training events and providing training for foster and kinship caregivers. They also offer wraparound teams for foster and adopted children to ensure their families are supported. AZ 1.27 has trained hundreds of foster families and has recruited and supported many adoptive families for the state. We are grateful for this effective partnership that is achieving permanency for children and supporting families!
Arizona Helping Hands
Arizona Helping Hands supports foster and kinship families during times of crisis or need by providing basic essentials, such as bedding, clothes, personal items, holiday and special occasion toys, school supplies, and emergency assistance. They also help connect families to other community-based services, including foster care enrichment and support providers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they assisted in a number of ways, including housing mattresses that were provided to kinship caregivers across the state. We appreciate the critical services provided by this agency for families in need!
Family Involvement Center
The Family Involvement Center provides supports and services to adoptive parents and children in the state of Arizona. Staff members leverage their own experience of parenting children who are receiving services from multiple social and public service agencies in order to support other families. Services are offered to help families reunify as well as support adoptive families. We are grateful for the work of the Family Involvement Center in supporting permanency for children!
Giving Sole: Brand new shoes for children in care
Starting in April 2019, the Department of Child Safety began working with Giving Sole, a nonprofit that provides a new pair of shoes for children in care. They attend Children’s Heart Gallery events to measure each child’s feet and allow them to pick out a pair of shoes online. After the event, representatives purchase the shoes and the Department of Child Safety distributes them to the children and youth. We appreciate this creative effort that not only meets a practical need but shows waiting children how special they are!
Helen’s Hope Chest
Helen’s Hope Chest provides clothing to children in the Arizona foster care system. They operate a "boutique store," which children and their caregivers can visit to shop and pick out the items they would like. All items are new, or like new. Helen’s Hope Chest also provides rolling racks of clothing, as well as a table filled with jewelry, for children to use at Children’s Heart Gallery events. The children can keep the clothing and jewelry items they pick out at these events as well. This partnership is a wonderful example of how community partners can do their part to be All In for waiting kids!
#LoveUp Foundation
The #LoveUp Foundation has worked alongside the Department of Child Safety for many years. They have assisted with securing locations for Children’s Heart Gallery events and providing meal donations at numerous events. Additionally, #LoveUp hosts multiple holiday parties for over 500 children and families in Arizona each year, including a Star Wars-themed holiday party for teens and young adults in 2019. We applaud these efforts, which are so critical in supporting the well-being of children in foster care!
One4All
During the stay-at-home order resulting from the pandemic, 15 foster/adoption agencies in Arizona worked together under the umbrella One4ALL to provide needed resources to kinship, foster, and adoptive families across the state. Resources ranged from clothing and food to masks and cleaning supplies, and more. We applaud this collaborative effort of so many partners to meet the needs of children and families!
Seneca
In 2019, nearly 500 Seneca Searches were completed to locate family/significant relationships for children in care. Arizona’s partnership with Seneca enables them to preserve children’s key connections as well as help to secure permanent placements for waiting children and youth. Prioritizing children’s existing connections promotes child well-being, and we are grateful for the positive outcomes being achieved for Arizona’s children through this partnership!
Vertuccio Farms
Farm maze at Vertuccio Farms
In October 2019, the family-run Vertuccio Farms cut the logo of the Children’s Heart Gallery into their corn field to create a maze. They donated a portion of all proceeds, over $4,000, to the Children’s Heart Gallery and provided free admission to 40 children in care and their caregivers. We appreciate this wonderful example of how local businesses can creatively and effectively partner to be All In for waiting kids!
Links to organizations are presented for informational purposes only; their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.