Objectives

Safe Families Canada strives to meet four objectives:

 

1. Family Support and Stabilization: Many parents struggle because of limited informal social supports and unavailable extended family. Many Host Families become the extended family that a parent never had, as does the local church congregation.

2. Child Welfare Deflection: Safe Families is a preventative measure, thus reducing the number of children entering the child welfare system.

3. Child Abuse Prevention: Providing an overwhelmed and resource limited parent with a safe, temporary place for their child without threat of losing custody can avert potential abuse/neglect episodes.

4. Revitalization of the Church: Participation in Safe Families helps volunteers align their spiritual practice more closely with God’s commandments.  Some call it a movement of compassion while others respond to the idea of returning to Biblical hospitality.  Both concepts are embodied in the acts of loving a child, mentoring a parent or supporting the movement with goods and services.