What is My Next Step?

Ways to Engage

The Greatest Need – Foster Care and Adoption

Have you ever thought about fostering a child?  Would you like to learn more?  We will connect you with helpful staff at Christian family Care and AZ 1.27 who can answer questions and will gladly guide you through this process!  SBC and dozens of other AZ churches are praying that 1,000 families will welcome a child into their home in the next two years.  Will you pray about being a forever family for a child in need?

Are you currently a foster, kinship, or adoptive parent?  Have you previously been a foster or kinship parent?   

Make a Difference and Lend a Hand Opportunities

Please review the list of opportunities at Gigi’s Cottage and with our local partners who provide critical support services and tangible needs for kids in care, foster families, birth families, and young adults who have aged out.

1. Part Time/Full Time Staff at Gigi’s Cottage
   Firm Foundation Youth Homes is a faith-based group home agency that offers opportunities to minister to the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of Arizona foster girls. Caregivers work as a team and provide a nurturing and structured environment for our children in a group home called Gigi’s Cottage. This position requires a high energy, flexible person looking to work with foster children (7-17 years old) and take on a connected role in the lives of our girls.  For more information contact Phoebe Johnson at pjohnson@scottsdalebible.com.

2. Mentor – Foster Children under 18
   SBC partners with Christian Family Care who provides training and carefully matches volunteer mentors with young teen or pre-teen children. Meetings are one-on-one and face-to-face each month. CFC’s hope is that deep, long-term friendships would develop, and that each youth would be encouraged by the adult’s commitment to meeting and relationship. For information contact Darwin Diaz at ddiaz@cfcare.org or https://cfcare.org/mentor-foster-youth/.

3. Mentor – Aged Out Youth over 18
   SBC partners with Thrive AZ who works with young adults aged 18-24, who have been in foster care. These young adults do not have “forever families” and need a consistent adult in their life.  Thrive AZ offers housing and adults who can walk along side of them. Mentoring might include attending Thrive AZ planned events, holiday parties, or one-on-one activities of the youth’s choice on their time (getting coffee, hiking, etc).  For more information contact Luke Hollingshead at lhollingshead@thriveaz.org.

4. Court Appointed Advocates
   CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. CASA volunteers are everyday people appointed by a judge to speak up for abused and neglected children in court. CASA provides training and will match you with a child in care. For more information contact Karolina Donis at karolina.donis@maricopacasa.org.

5. Meeting Needs
   CarePortal brings the needs of hurting children and families in our community to our attention. Through the CarePortal technology, our church can connect with real-time needs that Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) workers uncover. DCS workers submit the prevention need and the church becomes aware of this need through an email. Individuals then have an opportunity to respond directly to families who are in crisis. For more information, please email our SBC volunteer champion, Bill Heitzinger at billheitzinger@msn.com.

The engagement grid below shows the holistic approach to the variety of ways to get involved! From donating diapers and planning birthday parties to mentoring a birth mother to fostering a child.

Gigi’s Cottage

Watch some of our Foster Care and Adoption “My Stories” here:

A Young Couple’s Adoption Story Kinship Adoption Special Needs Adoption Foster Care and Adoption International and Domestic Adoption Foster Care and Adoption When You Have Older Children “ReMoved” – a foster care journey experience through the eyes of a child removed from her home