We are not all called to foster or adopt; we are all called to care about vulnerable children. Acton Baptist church has the privilege to walk alongside foster families during the time God calls them to foster children. As a church we say
"YES" TO PERMANENCE AND BELONGING FOR CHILDREN
"YES" TO WRAPPING AROUND COURAGEOUS KIDS AND FAMILIES
"YES" TO FULFILLING THE VERY ROLE GOD INTENDED FOR THE CHURCH
Meet Vickie Akins, who, along with her husband Randy, founded Chosen Ones in 2007. Their mission is to recruit and support foster families. Vickie would love to help walk you through your fostering journey.
The length of time depends on the agency through which you choose to become licensed. Each agency has different training schedules and requirements. This is a question to ask the agencies you are considering.
Foster youth may share space with biological youth but there are age and space restrictions around this.
Yes, the requirements are as follows:
§749.3021. How much space must bedrooms used by foster children have?
Subchapter O, Foster Homes: Health and Safety Requirements, Environment, Space and Equipment Division 4, Space and Equipment January 2007
Absolutely! Your foster children should be treated as a member of your family while they are in your home. Vacations do need approval from the child’s permanency specialist, but we certainly hope to promote normalcy for your foster youth while they live in your home.
Visitation with biological parents is scheduled through the child’s permanency specialist.
This depends on the move. How far was the move? Do you still have the same community/supports?
Yes, a newborn is a major life change. Your baby should be at least one year old before you consider becoming licensed to foster.
Relatives and other people with whom the child or family have a significant relationship often can provide stability when children can’t live with their birth parents. Kinship placement can serve as a temporary foster placement or a long-term adoption, based on the status of the case.
Whether you’ve been around abc for a while as a foster or adoptive family, or if you’re new to our community, we would love to get to know you. Please help by completing the form below. This will also allow us to share opportunities and gatherings at abc designed to support and encourage foster and adoptive families.
the Acton Baptist Wraparound response team is a group of volunteers that deliver immediate needs to foster care parents upon initial placement. Contact us as soon as placement occurs.
Donations are accepted for supplies for our foster families. Click below and search for the line "Redeeming Families" to give to our foster care ministry.
The primary way we support and care for foster families is through the formation of Wrap Around teams that meet the tangible needs of each of our foster families. Wrap teams usually consist of 10-12 adults who each commit to consistently providing a specific form of support to a specific family.
Wrap Team members meet tangible needs of the family to gift the foster parents with more time to care for the kids.
When a child enters a family through the foster care system, that child brings with them complicated behaviors and emotions resulting from the trauma of being removed from their home and being placed with an unfamiliar family. The burden on families to appropriately care for these kids can be daunting. There are extra medical appointments, therapy appointments, court appearances, meetings with DCS, birth family visitations and a myriad of other demands on top of regular parenting responsibilities.
You can wrap around a family in the following ways:
All potential volunteers will need to attend a brief training session, fill out a volunteer application, provide personal/professional references and will need to pass a background check and have an interview with an ABC ministry leader.
While there is no specific length of time a volunteer needs to commit to, this is a relational ministry, and the hope is that each volunteer would feel a longer term commitment to serve their family.
Sometimes families just need a listening ear, help enrolling in a program, spiritual counseling, or simply a pack of diapers, food and clothes for their kids. Chosen Ones is committed and dedicated to making sure these temporary, but important needs are met so that foster parents can remove some unwanted stress. Please let us know how we can help. We look forward to serving you!
Wrap Around invites you to “Foster Together,” a weekly support gathering for foster families. Foster parenting is hard, but it doesn’t have to be lonely. So join us for honest conversation, prayer, fun, laughter and encouragement from other parents who have “been there”.
OCOK is a division of ACH Child and Family Services providing a continuum of services for children in the Texas foster care system of Region 3b which includes: Erath, Hood, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Parker, Somervell, and Tarrant counties. As a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, OCOK provides information for you to get started on this journey. Click below to learn more!