Help One Child Mission To Children At Risk

Cultivating Community: Currently we offer 12 parent connection groups around the Bay Area, virtually, and two in the greater Sacramento area. 977 adults benefited from this critical program last fiscal year. Our groups offer a supportive community of people who understand the unique experience of a foster parent. Many attendees credit these groups as being their life-line and greatest source of encouragement. Listen to Adoptive Mom K's experience "Help One Child and its community really helped. We found a place that helped us feel normal and started to formulate what our new normal was. Openness and trust are natural among those that have shared in the same struggle; this was huge in letting our guard down." In addition to our caregiver gatherings we also offer our network of families Respite Events. This provides youth a chance to connect with peers while providing a meaningful volunteer opportunity and caregivers with a few hours of respite. 870 youth benefited from our respite events. And these two programs deployed a collective 2,778 hours of volunteer work. (exp class 300 less camp expense, see additional program 1)

Tangible Resources: We partner with churches and organizations throughout the year to raise awareness of the tangible needs of those impacted by the foster care system. Whether through an annual donation drive or through activating CarePortal (an online platform) our greater community can help bridge the gap. Not only are too many kids being separated from their families for preventable reasons, but a disproportionate number of children in foster care are Black. Any amount of time spent in foster care is traumatic and has lasting consequences that put kids at high risk for devastating outcomes later in life. Children placed with a relative (or known individual i.e., godparent) have statistically lower rates of changes in placement than children in other settings. Often, these family members aren't prepared to take additional children into their care and can greatly benefit by the support of physical items such as bunk beds, car seats, etc. This past fiscal year through the partnership of 45 churches we saw 786 children and youth served by use of the CarePortal platform. (exp class 100+500+600-Giving Tree omitted, see additional program 2)

Signs of Hope Camp: An overnight summer camp for children 7-12 years of age touched by foster care or adoption. Camp is held in the Santa Cruz Mountains and provides an opportunity for 50-65 youth to spend the last days of summer learning about God's love and grace along with other campers who have similar life stories. By providing a fun and safe environment, campers are able to make and strengthen their connections with other campers, counselors, and God. In August 2023 the program hosted 39 campers and deployed 2,908 volunteer hours! Camp remains one of our most beloved programs by the youth who attend and the volunteers who serve all week as counselors. (camp only exp in class 300)

Giving Tree: Without question our Giving Tree program has the largest audience annually. We partner with churches and organizations throughout the SF bay area to raise awareness of foster care by recruiting Christmas Presents to bring cheer to those impacted by foster care in our communities. Through our most recent program analysis it was confirmed that the promotion of this program is the only time foster care is brought to the attention of the congregation from the pulpit for many of our church partners. During the 2023 Christmas season, we oversaw 2,995 gifts collected and dispersed to social workers and families at our Santa Shops. (exp class 100)