Love Never Fails

1. Love Never Fails What is the ABC Initiative? Agape Black Children and Churches Initiative, inspired by the One Church One Child program which has placed 120,000 children in adoptive homes. ABC Initiative Program Goals: 1. Increase awareness about the need for foster and adoptive homes; - In the Black community - In the general community, with an emphasis on the needs of Black children 2. Take action by training, licensing, certifying, supporting and celebrating resource families and foster family ministries 3. Retain resource families through fellowship events and through effective advocacy with Arizona’s Department of Economic Security and Maricopa County’s Superior Court

2. Love Never Fails • Fost/Adopt - How Arizona’s System Works • Resource families are trained and licensed (30 hours) • Call to child abuse report line • Investigation of allegation • Child safety evaluated • Child moved to a foster home • Caseworker assigned to work with birth family and child

3. Love Never Fails • Basic Requirements for • Resource (Foster and Adoptive) Parents • Be at least 21 years of age • May be single or married • Home must pass a basic life-safety inspection • Must have access to transportation • Must have a telephone or similar means of communication

4. Love Never Fails • Additional Requirements • Foster or Adoptive (Resource) Parents • Dedication and devotion • Dealing with many people • Responding to a child’s challenging needs • Making a difference in a child’s life

5. Love Never Fails • Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?

6. Love Never Fails • Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?

7. Love Never Fails • Who Are the Kids in Foster Care?

8. Love Never Fails Maricopa County Zip Codes with Most Pressing Need for Resource (Foster and Adoptive) Parents 85014, 85225, 85040, 85041, 85029, 85204, 85021, 85033, 85051, 85015, 85323, 85009, 85017, 85301, 85201 If your home is in one of these zip codes, please call Agape today to find out how you can make a difference!

9. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Successful Foster and Adoptive Parents • Must Be Able To.. • Know Your Own Family - Assess your individual and family strengths and needs; build on strengths and meet needs • Communicate Effectively – Use and develop communication skills needed to foster or adopt

10. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Know the Children – Identify the strengths and needs of children and youth who have been abused, neglected, abandoned, or emotionally maltreated • Build Strengths; Meet Needs – Build on strengths and meet needs of children and youth who are placed with you

11. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Work in Partnership – Develop partnerships with children, birth families, the agency, and the community to develop and carry out plans for permanency • Be Loss & Attachment Experts – Help children develop skills to manage loss and attachment

12. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Manage Behaviors – Help children manage behaviors • Build Connections – Help children maintain and develop relationships that keep them connected to their pasts

13. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Build Self-Esteem – Help children build on positive self-concept and positive family, cultural and racial identity • Assure Health and Safety – Provide a healthy and safe environment for children and youth and keep them free from harm

14. Love Never Fails • Criteria for Mutual Selection • Assess Impact – Assess the ways fostering and/or adoptive will affect your family • Make an Informed Decision – Make an informed decision to foster or adopt

15. Love Never Fails • Next Steps for Families • Participate in an orientation meeting • Select a licensing or certification agency • Begin training classes • Agape’s next classes begin soon!

16. Love Never Fails Next Steps for Families EVERYONE IS NOT READY TO BECOME A FOSTER OR ADOPTIVE PARENT. YOU CAN STILL SUPPORT THE FAMILIES THAT ARE “CLOSE TO HOME”! Find out more about the families at risk in your zip code and how you can help them. Instead of fostering or adopting, you may decide to… • Be a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASAs are volunteers from the community who visit assigned foster children and advocate for their best interests inside and outside of the courtroom. • Participate on the Foster Care Review Board (FCRB). These volunteers review the progress of children in the foster care system toward achieving a permanent home and advise the juvenile court on this progress. • Be an advocate. The Children's Action Alliance (CAA) is a strong and independent voice for Arizona's children. Join CAA's advocacy network to stay up to date on policy issues that make a difference to the well-being of children in and out of the foster care system. • Be a donor. A donation to the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation (AFFCF) helps provide opportunities for foster children that include college scholarships, tutoring, athletic memberships and equipment, school activities and more.

17. Love Never Fails Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. —James 1:27 Agape Adoption Agency of Arizona, Inc. is a 501(c)3 Christian Agency that provides Adoption Certification  Foster Care Licensure  Parenting Classes Kinship Advocacy  Birth Parent Services For more information, please contact us at: Phone (480) 272-7994 Fax (480) 323-2064 www.agapeaz.org