By Rosemary Lewallen
The Foster Care System is in crisis. Did you know that according to the National Foster Youth Institute, 50% of the homeless and 60% of child sex trafficking victims were once in foster care? In addition, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy, 75% of the prison population have spent time in foster care. CarePortal helps to combat this crisis. If you are interested in finding out about CarePortal, come to the free CarePortal Responder/Response Team Training on Monday, Oct. 30th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at St. Irenaeus Parish Hall, 5201 Evergreen Ave., Cypress, CA 90630. Our presenter will be Stephanie Graves, the CarePortal OC Regional Manager. Refreshments will be served.
The goal of CarePortal is “to stabilize biological and kinship families, avoiding the need for foster care placement.” This is an ambitious plan, but nothing is impossible when people join together to do good work. CarePortal provides a way for each of us to make a positive difference in the lives of children and families who want to stay together.
At the training, we will answer your questions about CarePortal. We will discuss poverty and trauma. You will learn how to use the CarePortal online platform step by step. Each request submitted to CarePortal is vetted by case workers, social workers or child welfare professionals.
You will be shown the simple process of fulfilling a vetted request. You will find out how the St.Irenaeus Health Ministry Response Team has filled CarePortal requests in the last two years as part of a CarePortal network of over 3000 churches. You will learn that there are many ways to fulfill a request.
We are reaching out to you as part of our community to assist vulnerable children and families. If you are curious about CarePortal or have any questions, please contact Monica Kovach, chair of the St. Irenaeus CarePortal Ministry, at 310-490-6113.