ONEfamily is excited announce that Frazer UMC will be hosting the ten week GPS Foster Care training class starting this September! We look forward to partnering with Alabama DHR as they will be providing extensive training on the foster care process.
The class starts Tuesday, September 13th, and goes for ten weeks from 5:30pm-8:30pm.
If you are interested in joining other families to start the foster care process please submit your contact information, (Name, Address, Email and Phone) to onefamily@frazerumc.org.
We will forward your contact information on to DHR and they will you send you detailed information about the class.
Please spread the word, this class is open to any family!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Foster Care Q&A
Interested in learning more about the foster care process?
Want to talk with families who have just started fostering or have been fostering for years?
Not sure if you can commit to full-time foster care but still interested in how you can do more?
When: Wednesday, July 20th at 6pm
Where: Frazer UMC, Room 7202
Who: Anyone in the community interested in learning more about foster care
What: An informal question and answer night with families that are currently fostering or have fostered in the past. You will hear from:
*A family that has fostered over 30 children
*A family who has fostered for the past ten years
*A family with small children and newborn baby who
*A family who has fostered for the past ten years
*A family with small children and newborn baby who
started fostering this past winter
*A family who fosters medically fragile babies
*A family who fosters medically fragile babies
Why: Because there are hundreds of children in Montgomery County desperately in need of compassionate and loving families to provide them stability and structure.
There are many ways that you can play a role in changing a child's life. Learn about becoming Foster parents (full-time foster care) or Respite Care families (providing short term care for foster children: overnight, for the weekend, or a week).
Childcare WILL be provided.
If you have anyone questions, please feel free to email Leslie at onefamily@frazerumc.org
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
MOLDOVA MISSIONS
Hello friends! My name is Kathryn Jones and I am a guest blogger today for One Family! I recently went on a mission trip to Moldova with Frazer to work alongside Philip Cameron Ministries. We worked at Stella's House and the new Providence House orphanage in Cupcui. I want to share a little bit about this trip that is rocking my world as we speak!
When Leslie asked me to write this, I wasn't sure how to put all of my feelings and the lessons that I learned in to one post. I started my own blog because of this trip. It has taken me 24 posts just to get to our second day at the orphanage! So please know...this is tough for me. But I want to share a few things with you...to help you understand the orphan crisis in Moldova.
Moldova is about the size of the state of Maryland...and in that tiny country there are more than 8,000 orphans in institutions. This number does not include the number of children who are in the homes of other family members or are being treated as household servants. Moldova is Europe's poorest country, it has one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world. It was voted by Time or Newsweek as one of the most depressing places on the planet. People don't smile there. There is epidemic of hopelessness. Abuse and neglect are rampant in this country. Studies suggest that more than 50% of the orphans in Moldova are what is called "social orphans" meaning that one or more of their parents is alive. The parents simply do not wish to or cannot afford to take care of them. What makes this situation even sadder...is that Moldova has recently closed all adoptions....even people in process. The political climate there is always changing and starting over...never progressing forward. In 2009, despite thousands of children being in orphanages, only 14 were adopted by families in the U.S. Its appalling. Moldova remained open for adoptions until the Spring of this year. These kids need help now more than ever.
While in Moldova, we heard the stories of many of the girls at Stella's House. Most of the girls there came from Cupcui (before PCM was running it) or Straseni Orphanage. The stories these girls shared were heartbreaking. One young woman witnessed her father beat her mother to death before she was put in the orphanage...she then was sent back home to live with her aunt...there she was victim to horrendous assaults on her childhood. She was 11 years old before she received her first hug. Can you imagine...waiting 11 years before someone holds you? Her story certainly changed my approach while in Moldova. I MEANT I was hugging every child I came in contact with...and I did:)
Galina is the name of one of the girls who helped us translate at the orphanage and she quickly became a friend to all of us....her childhood story is very sad.
Something that Galina said to me on our first day keeps weighing on my heart....I'm not sure what God is going to do about it...but I know that He is in the business of DOING THINGS and CHANGING LIVES...so I am trusting Him.
When Leslie asked me to write this, I wasn't sure how to put all of my feelings and the lessons that I learned in to one post. I started my own blog because of this trip. It has taken me 24 posts just to get to our second day at the orphanage! So please know...this is tough for me. But I want to share a few things with you...to help you understand the orphan crisis in Moldova.
Moldova is about the size of the state of Maryland...and in that tiny country there are more than 8,000 orphans in institutions. This number does not include the number of children who are in the homes of other family members or are being treated as household servants. Moldova is Europe's poorest country, it has one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the world. It was voted by Time or Newsweek as one of the most depressing places on the planet. People don't smile there. There is epidemic of hopelessness. Abuse and neglect are rampant in this country. Studies suggest that more than 50% of the orphans in Moldova are what is called "social orphans" meaning that one or more of their parents is alive. The parents simply do not wish to or cannot afford to take care of them. What makes this situation even sadder...is that Moldova has recently closed all adoptions....even people in process. The political climate there is always changing and starting over...never progressing forward. In 2009, despite thousands of children being in orphanages, only 14 were adopted by families in the U.S. Its appalling. Moldova remained open for adoptions until the Spring of this year. These kids need help now more than ever.
While in Moldova, we heard the stories of many of the girls at Stella's House. Most of the girls there came from Cupcui (before PCM was running it) or Straseni Orphanage. The stories these girls shared were heartbreaking. One young woman witnessed her father beat her mother to death before she was put in the orphanage...she then was sent back home to live with her aunt...there she was victim to horrendous assaults on her childhood. She was 11 years old before she received her first hug. Can you imagine...waiting 11 years before someone holds you? Her story certainly changed my approach while in Moldova. I MEANT I was hugging every child I came in contact with...and I did:)
Galina is the name of one of the girls who helped us translate at the orphanage and she quickly became a friend to all of us....her childhood story is very sad.
Something that Galina said to me on our first day keeps weighing on my heart....I'm not sure what God is going to do about it...but I know that He is in the business of DOING THINGS and CHANGING LIVES...so I am trusting Him.
After our walk through the village, Galina and I were talking about her childhood. Every part of her story breaks my heart. I asked Galina a question...and I never imagined the impact that her response would have on my life...strangely enough...her answer surprised me. It shouldn't have...but it did. I asked Galina, as an orphan what had she wanted most. I was thinking it would be something more physical...a warm bed, warm meal, dry home, etc. When I asked her what she most wanted...I imagined more a shoot for the moon...you've got three wishes kind of answer...and this girl...this girl just wanted someone to be there. She wanted someone there ....she wanted to know that someone truly cared for her...She wanted someone to truly practice James 1:27...to be there for orphans in their distress...
If God hasn't called you to mission trips...or to adoption...or to foster care...you can STILL "be there" for these kids. You can help send someone else on a mission trip. You can send supplies to orphanages. You can support missionaries who go to orphanages. The options are endless! This mission trip really has rocked our world in big ways. If you don't mind, pray for me and my husband as we try to discern God's plan for us. We feel called back to Moldova...and that is big and scary for us! Pray for courage and conviction!
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