Childhelp Foster Family and Adoption Agency of Michigan

"I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented, or even beautiful, but because I have never belonged to anything or anyone else.”
~ Foster Child

They are in need of a family. They are in need of shelter, food and healthcare. They hope, they wish, they pray. Approximately 17,800 children were part of Michigan’s foster care system in 2010. Each one shares a gripping story of the life that led them to the system. Being removed from their home and placed in foster care is a difficult and stressful experience for any child.

In 2002, Childhelp opened the Foster Family Agency of Michigan (FFA MI) to meet one of the state's most pressing child welfare needs. In 2009 the facility became a fully licensed adoption agency as well. The Childhelp Foster Family and Adoption Agency of Michigan has successfully united children deserving of love, compassion and hope with families who are willing and capable of giving it to them. The agency actively recruits, certifies and trains foster and adoptive families throughout Southeast Michigan. Among the valuable continuum of care, Childhelp provides many services.   

• Family and individual counseling
• Case management
• Free, on-going foster family training
• Foster family certification
• Adoption Services
• 24-hour support & crisis intervention

The Childhelp Michigan agency provides foster and adoptive family recruitment and certification through home screening and study to ensure that parents can deliver adequate care for the foster and adoptive children placed with them. Each child welcomed into the program has access to a Childhelp mental health expert who is available to provide weekly individual and family therapy.

Foster and adoptive children and their families also receive crisis intervention and case management services that are provided throughout their stay with a foster family. Once a child is placed in a home, Childhelp is committed to providing care for the entire family.

It Doesn’t End There

If and when possible Childhelp will promote the reunification of children with their biological parents. Positive-parenting trainings and supervised child visitations are only two of the ways Childhelp helps to cultivate positive, hopeful relationships between the foster children and their birth parents.

Growing up is difficult for kids. They might need braces, trips to the dermatologist or new clothes to accommodate their rapid growth. The Michigan Special Friends Fund provides foster families with the money to provide the children with necessities for good health and self-confidence.

One of the scariest times during a foster youth’s life is when he or she turns 18 and “ages out” of the foster care system. They no longer have a place to stay, parents to help them with financial struggles, or people to lean on for support or advice. These youth are supported by a volunteer mentoring program. This mentor is someone they can confide in, learn from and look up to — something most foster youth rarely get the opportunity to embrace.

Enrichment Programs

• Special Friends: Funds are raised through the Childhelp Michigan Chapter to support expenses not traditionally covered in foster care programs. Case-by-case, as funds are available, Childhelp is able to support individual needs such as orthodontia, dermatology, individualized tutoring, specialized camps and other opportunities that increase a child’s self-esteem.
• Foster Youth Mentoring: This program was designed to meet the unique needs of foster youth.  A critical missing element in the lives of children in the foster care system is the youth's fundamental need for close and caring relationships.  Click here for more information on the Mentorhsip program. 
• One Church, One Family: This initiative was designed to increase community engagement in the foster care system.  A One Church, One Family care church is a church that identifies one family within the congregation that the entire community rallies around to support.  Click here for more information.

Program Distinctives

• 1 Child / 1 Home standard.
• 24-hour support for foster and adoptive children and their families.
• Childhelp Michigan provides mentors to foster children and has established one of the few mentor programs for youth aging out of foster care (when they turn 18).
• Childhelp Michigan provides supervised birth parent visitations.
• Childhelp Michigan is one of the few agencies dedicated to working with adolescents in foster and adoptive homes, who are much more difficult to place than infants or toddlers, and who require much more ongoing support to foster care families.

Program Goals

1. Expand the foster family program to 100 children by February 2010.
2. Expand the mentoring program to 100 matches of youth and mentor volunteers by June 2010.
3. Implement a prevention outreach program utilizing the Good-Touch Bad-Touch curriculum to reach seven elementary schools with approximately 500 children at each school by September 2010.
4. Begin hiring additional adoption staff in February 2010.
5. Complete 5 adoption cases by the end of December 2010 and have 10 more in progress.