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How to Host a Safe Families Home Gathering
built THEVALUES SAFE FAMILIES IS radical hospitality This movement isbuilt upon open arms open hearts and open doors We welcome strangers into our homes and our lives to find hope rest and healing Volunteers ar re willing to host and serve others being role models demonstrating to others the radical lifestyle of loving and caring for the stranger 1 Peter 4 9 Hebrews 13 2 Romans 12 11 13 disruptive generosity Generous people are selfless redemptive and sacrificial We give freely of our time talents treasure and words This type of generosity often disrupts our comfortable way of life and personal space both in our schedules and homes I Timothy 6 17 19 Titus 3 14 2 Corinthians 9 7 8 In tential compai We are moved by mercy to care about our communities that are hurting and alone Compassion allows us to see those in need which has to occur in order to intentionally act Compassion means to su er with and includes a desire to help alleviate that su ering Mark 6 34 Galatians 6 2 Matthew 14 14 1 Peter 3 8 The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small MOTHER TERESA
Table of Ctents INTRO 4 WHERE TO START 6 PRE MEETING PLANNING 7 IN PERSON GATHERINGS 8 VIRTUAL GATHERINGS 9 WHAT TO PRESENT 11 HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL HOME GATHERING 23 HOME GATHERING PLANNER 28
ino The safety children and protection of is all of our responsibility Dr David Anderson Founder CEO Safe Families for Children 4 The Safe Families for Children movement is passionate about family preservation to help keep children safe and families together We want to build resilient families resulting in the prevention of child abuse thus decreasing the overall number of children being separated from their parents and unnecessarily entering the foster care system We believe God values the family and calls the church to support its neighbors who are struggling to stay together We want to mobilize the church to respond in compassion to the needs of isolated families and help keep kids safe These needs were never meant to be left solely to government institutions As a result it s important to recruit a massive and diverse base of volunteers in order to the match the diversity of the parents and children we serve What is this problem we are trying to solve Too many families are under resourced and under served and we want to prevent harm that can come to children as a result of parents facing tremendous
difficulties without a support or resource network Thousands of children enter the foster care system every day and upwards of 70 of children can be deflected from foster care if the child s parent has the love and support of a caring compassionate community Safe Families for Children mobilizes volunteers from churches and the community at large to be that Circle of Support around these parents and their children Through our collective efforts we can protect children and preserve families Home Gatherings is a key initiative to invite people within your network to join the Safe Families movement of awareness advocacy financial support providing needed resources a n d prayer We all have our networks and Home Gatherings open doors to recruit host families family friends family coaches and resource friends Everyone can do something and there is a place for everyone to join this national movement of families supporting families SHARE We all have our networks and Home Gatherings are an opportunity to share Safe Families for Children so the word gets out about this resource in the community and engage all age groups to get involved in serving vulnerable children and families 5
Thank you for opening your heart and your home to share Safe Families for Children By opening your home you are not only sharing but celebrating our core values of radical hospitality disruptive generosity and intentional compassion In this booklet you will find planning and preparation tools to help you host a successful Home Gathering
Where to Start planning PRE MEETING Define the purpose of your Home Gathering This is done in collaboration with your local Safe Families chapter leadership The uniqueness of the Safe Families model is that it engages all ages and stages of life to radically impact and transform local communities Everybody Can do Something Share the Movement Share the movement by hosting a Home Gathering and inviting your network of friends and family to hear about the work and mission of supporting families facing crisis Support the Mission There are many ways to support the mission of Safe Families You can pray financially invest and donate goods and services to your local chapter Serve and Mobilize Your Community Serve and mobilize your community by volunteering to host a child in your home or support a parent
IN PERSON gatherings Decide on issues such as childcare and meeting spaces where you can host a gathering to enjoy fellowship and community Use your home or agree shared gathering space Prepare the space so people can see and hear each other easily Decide if food will be a part of the gathering whether a provided or pot luck dinner or simply just snacks Make it fun You can plan a theme picnic Mexican pizza etc or make it simple like having a coffee and dessert The goal is to focus on people and create an environment where guests are comfortable
VIRTUAL gatherings Virtual Home Gatherings may be a more convenient option to share the Safe Families movement Whether in person or virtually the goal is to know your audience plan an interactive gathering and set an agenda You can still involve a theme and make it fun and engaging for your participants Here are suggested platforms ZOOM Free accounts can have meetings up to 40 minutes OGOOGLE MEET Already available to you if you have a G mail account MICROSOFT TEAMS Free sign up SKYPE One of the original virtual call meeting platforms FB MESSENGER ROOMS Host needs to have a FB messenger account but participants do not need to have a FB account to participate
p r e s CONSIDERHOWYOUCANCREATEA FUN ENGAGING EXPERIENCE PERHAPS YOU HAVE A FOOD THEME SUCH AS EVERYONE HAS THEIR FAVORITE PIZZA DURING THE CALL MAYBE YOU HAVE A SPORTS THEME WHERE EVERYONE WEARS THEIR FAVORITE SPORTS GEAR OR MAYBE EVERYONE IS SITTING IN THEIR KITCHEN OR IN THEIR FAVORITE CHAIR JUST AIM TO BE INTENTIONAL IN HOW YOU WILL CREATE A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS AND FUN
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WELCOME 3 minutes 3 5 minutes HOST S SAFE FAMILIES STORY PUBLIC NARRATIVE SF Volunteer Host and the Facilitator share their Safe Families Stories The following questions can be used to guide them Why are you involved in Safe Families Where do you come from what one or two experiences in your life led you to decide to volunteer for Safe Families How has this experience impacted your life and the life of your family HERE ARE SOME RESOURCESTO PREPARE CATALYST TRAINING Please contact your local Safe Families chapter about getting trained as a Catalyst which will help you shape and strengthen your Safe Families Story and Home Gathering Hosting Facilitation AMPLIFY TRAINING Review the following session of Safe Families Amplify Training especially Public Narrative examples starting at the 37 00 minute mark watch aining here
3 5 minutes ATTENDEE INTRODUCTIONS Share the attendees names a little about their families what is intriguing them about Safe Families and some type of fun fact favorite hobby weekend activity food etc 5 minutes HOST INTRODUCES THE HOME GATHERING FACILITATOR The host will introduce the Facilitator who will briefly introduce their background role with Safe Fami l i e s a n d their Public Narrative The Facilitator will also provide a brief overview of the rest of the evening as well as the hopeful outcome of the gathering
30 35 minutes GROUP DISCUSSION DISCOVERY This is the main section of the Home Gathering that features both a 7 minute video or 4 minute video clip on Safe Families with discussion questions afterwards The Facilitator will guide the group through questions to not only draw out this impression of the video but also tap into the group s lived experiences are the events in their lives that have informed their way of living and thinking as well as the group s shared values what internal views beliefs and motivators they hold that move them to action Show the following Safe Families Feature Videos Rethinking Foster wavticdheofseahtuerree Care Gathering the Church
Discussion Group Questions Q Have you experienced or have known someone who has experienced a difficult situation that caused some type of trauma or depression What was that like How did you feel What was the road map for the solution and healing Q What do you think it would be like to face a challenge like that with no one around to support you Q Take out your phone and scroll through your contacts Who do you call or text when you face a difficult situation Tell the group about one of your support people Q Describe what you think it would feel like to be stuck in a position of potentially losing your job because no one is available to help take care of your child
Q Dr Dave Anderson said in the video It s really all about relationships If they a struggling parent are in their situation because of social isolation they need relationships that continue after kids are returned home from a short term hosting Q Have you considered relationships to be a valuable resource to a struggling parent that would actually help their family stay intact and be as healthy as possible Respond Q What jumped out to you about the relationship between Danielle and her roommates and Nellie and her kids Q Danielle said The whole goal for this when we started this as a house was to have hospitality for whoever we would be serving How does this view of hospitality challenge your understanding of hospitality Q As you have seen various values and concepts in action such as hospitality relationships etc what common values do we share as a group regarding children and families
Giveeveryoneastackofpostitnotes Tellthe group they have90secondstowritedownas many ideasas possible that a person church business school etc can get involvedwithSafe Families Theyaretowrite down one idea per post it note Tell everyone they have 90 secondsandtokeepthe energygoing give them an additional 30 seconds for more ideas Ask every memberofgroupto read offtheir answers Once everyone has read all of theiranswers have them group their ideas by opportunity or t heme and stickthem on awall posterboard table etc Ask the group to just look at all the opportunities for 30 seconds Ask them where they see themselves fitting in Ask them who in their relational network fits some of the ideas they see in front of them
As the group continues to look at the ideas and opportunities read the following quote from Karen Anderson Safe Families is not a program Safe Families is a movement Ordinary people who just are taking a step to make a difference in the lives of people who need it Q What stands out to you in this quote What part will you play
3 5 minutes MEETING THE NEED NOW AND TOGETHER 2 key thghts The facilitator will emphasize 1 The Need is Great Urgent Safe Families chapter staff will need to provide a Facilitator with some general data on the local county or state regarding number of kids in foster care number of hot line calls made poverty rates single parent homes etc This helps paint the picture of the local need In general we know that 70 of calls to the child abuse hot line are about neglect issues And of those only 32 met the threshold for investigation This means there are many many children and families not receiving state services but are greatly at risk These numbers do not include children and family who have not yet come to the attention of child welfare There are children sleeping in cars and hopeless isolated parents within a few blocks or miles of where we are right now
2 Child Safety is Everyone s Responsibility That Must Be Addressed Collectively One person or family can help a few children and families Yet dozens hundreds and thousands of people can help an exponential number of children and families and begin to make a societal change This is why we invite as many people as possible to join a national movement of families supporting families We want to make a collective impact by sharing the responsibility to support the most vulnerable in the community Every single person here a n d e v e r y s i n g l e p e r s o n y o u k n o w can do something to help Working together we can all Share the Movement Support the Mission and Serve and Mobilize the Community to help keep children safe and out of the foster care system
5 10 minutes NEXT STEPS TO TAKE ACTION The Facilitator will distribute response cards for people to fill out with how you can becomes involved with the Safe Families movement Immediate Action Steps Follow the local and national Safe Families pages on all social media platforms Share posts and invite others to follow us Support the work of Safe Families financially Talk to your church leadership and help them become a Safe Families Church Connect with organizations you are a part of in your community that would want to partner with Safe Families as a referral source
Complete a volunteer application to directly help families who are struggling like Nellie and her kids from the video Host your own Home Gathering with people in your network Consider people from your church neighborhood school community groups workplace family etc closing Collect the response cards and thank everyone for coming The local chapter will assist in following up with e v e r y person regarding how they want to be engaged with the Safe Families movement
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Craft your Safe Families Story with help from the local chapter staff If your Home Gathering is made up of your small group or Sunday School class from church work with your Small Group Leader or the appropriate church leader who oversees your group to share the vision of the Circle of Support and how families are supported Get familiar with the Request More Info page on the Safe Families website as well as the Safe Families app Ensure that your local Safe Families chapter has the names and contact information of the people who attended your Home Gathering The Host and the Facilitator need to be in regular contact prior to the meeting The Facilitator needs to ensure that any needed technology is functioning that there is adequate seating and that people have something to write with
As the Host Make Sure to Be we prepared Know your story and have your materials organized friendly Greet and talk with people with sincerity learning who they are patient Don t rush times of silence it often means people and thinking and want to communicate clearly intential Directly ask people who have been quiet to respond Don t let anyone dominate the conversation persal Look people in the eyes and use verbal and non verbal affirmations to what people share hest areciative Questions may be asked that you don t know the answer Don t be afraid to say I don t know but commit to finding the answer The attendees set aside time to come and participate Show your gratitude real Your job is not to sell anything or manipulate people to do something Your job is to cast a vision of how the people in attendance can make a di erence in people s lives in their community prayerful Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your words and to stir the hearts of those in attendance encraging Encourage the host to help with some facilitation as appropriate Encourage the attendees that they can all do something
host duties A Home Gathering Host has 4 Primary Duties Work with your local SF chapter church ministry lead or small group church leader to plan the meeting Coordinate the Home Gathering Follow up with the local chapter with responses Response cards will be provided Reach out and thank your guests for making time to participate in the SF movement o Work with the appropriate leader depending on your audience 1 Depending on your target audience a SF staff ministry lead or your small group leader can be helpful to you in creating an invitation list making the invitations and securing commitments 2 Be thoughtful choosing a day and time Keep in mind school church and sports schedules 3 Plan ahead about how attendees can do the next steps completing applications training etc o Coordinate the Home Gathering 1 Meet the Facilitator regarding needs and logistics technology handouts etc Meet with the facilitator prior to start time 2 Decide on if how food will be provided meal vs dessert prepared vs pot luck 3 Be prepared to share your Safe Families Story
Follow up with local chapter Provide the names and contact information of those who attended to your local chapter Even if people completed the on line Request More Info form this will help us confirm those showing interest Also provide the names of people in your group who were not able to attend The local chapter will help with a plan to follow up with participants Help coordinate participants with any live training options so they can get trained and begin to serve
Planner Home Gathering Our goal for a successful Home Gathering on date ___________________ is to have 10 15 people attend your gathering To see 15 people means that you will need to invite at least 35 of your friends family and acquaintances Use this brainstorm sheet to think of those you want to invite including who is likely to host their own meeting Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 Phone Invited Y N Commit Y N Reminder Call Y N Notes
Name 1 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Phone Invited Y N Commit Confirmed w Remind er Call Y N Y N Notes
Name 1 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Phone Invited Y N Commit Y N Confirmed w Remind er Call Y N Notes
remember name Please print the invitee s full name invite Please mark yes no maybe or left message LM This will help you track who you need to contact and who you should be calling for confirmation The most powerful invitation is when you speak with someone directly coit Please mark yes no or maybe Note If the invitee cannot come to your house meeting please write why if all possible so you can know how to follow up cfirm Please mark yes no or left message LM You ll need to call every invitee who said yes or maybe and every invitee who only got a left message Please do not assume that anybody will come without a confirmation the day before your meeting It can t hurt to give people a quick reminder and we need to know how many people will be at a meeting to make that meeting as effective and enjoyable as possible
Hosting Children And Surrounding Families With Caring Compassionate Community SAFE FAMILIES ORG