Implementing Partner Essential Reading

Over 7,000,000 children are reported to child welfare agencies every year with concerns of maltreatment. Today, nearly 400,000 of those children are in foster care after being removed from their homes. When a child enters the system, the outcomes are frequently poor. So many of our homeless neighbors, of those who are incarcerated, and the women and girls who are rescued from sex trafficking have spent time in foster care. And yet, 76% of children involved in the child welfare system are there due to neglect*, which points primarily to poverty as a root issue.

*Child Maltreatment Report

The government spends over $30 billion per year to solve the problem.  There are more than enough local community care stakeholders to solve the problem.  Yet every year, more children enter the foster system than exit.  Why?  Our child welfare efforts are disconnected and reactive, which makes them expensive and ineffective.      

World-class connecting platforms like Uber and Airbnb have brought the sharing economy to important sectors of commerce.  Such technology-based innovation must happen in the social sector at scale to reverse the foster crisis in our nation.

CarePortal is a care-sharing technology that drives action for local children and families in crisis. The platform is a systematic care-sharing technology intervention to mobilize local communities to reverse the foster crisis in the nation, need by need, in real-time. Watch how it works.

The following principles are likely shared by Implementing Partners (IPs) that utilize CarePortal:

Guiding Principles for Partnership

Circles of Care | CarePortal is guided by a model we call the Circles of Care. The child is always at the center of our efforts. We believe what is best for every child is a loving family wrapped around by a local church. For this reason, we focus on building the capacity of local churches so they may provide effective care for children and families in crisis. We also establish on-ramps for businesses, individuals, and people who care (included in the outer Community circle). The local church connects directly with the child or family in need.

Collaboration is critical | No single organization can do this work alone. It takes a fierce commitment to collaboration to make a long-term impact.

CarePortal serves any child in crisis | Jesus cast the widest net of love, tearing down cultural biases and promoting radical, personal generosity and concern for those in need. With that example, CarePortal brings together diverse constituents - government agencies, churches, businesses, schools, and other ministries - to support children and families in crisis regardless of race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, political leanings, etc. If we find any of our partners are discriminating against the children and families they should unconditionally serve, they will be removed from the network.

We are ecumenically minded | CarePortal promotes unity in and among the Church and seeks to build a network across denominational, ethnic, and socio-economic lines. While we are open to the support of other faith-based organizations, CarePortal exists to help Bible-believing Christian churches care for vulnerable children and families in their own communities. CarePortal was developed as a ministry tool to help accomplish the mission of meeting needs, making personal connections, and establishing meaningful relationships within and beyond the community of Christ-following believers.

The Grid

• Tier 1 - Physical Requests represent physical items or services that local churches could provide to a family. These requests would not require a background check by a child-serving agency but may require the family needing assistance to sign a release of information.
• Tier 2 - Relational Requests represent more relational needs of a family, provided by a church responder that first needs to complete an approval process by a child-serving agency.
• Tier 3 - Familial Requests address the familial needs of a child or family and require responders to complete further training and licensing.

Commitments of Partnership

Shared Mission
CarePortal provides access, training, and support to IPs, child-serving agencies, and churches so that the communities they serve benefit in the following ways:

• Fewer removals of children from their homes while keeping children safe through goods, services, and support provided to birth families;
• Improved placement opportunities for children and retention of kinship, foster and adoptive families receiving goods and services and wrap-around support;
• Increased caseworker satisfaction by experiencing an effective, efficient means of obtaining needed support for children and families they serve through stronger community support;
• Faster and easier recruitment and screening of volunteers, foster and adoptive families through a faith-based community network;
• Reduced or avoided costs to child welfare by providing goods and services and supporting birth, kinship, foster, and adoptive families and improving the well-being of children and families.

Success Targets for Every County
Working together, CarePortal, Implementing Partners and Requesting Agencies will strive to achieve these positive outcomes:

• At least 10% of churches actively engaged
• At least 75% of requests met by churches
• Stronger connection of local churches to the community

An Implementing Partner Commits To:

Regarding Churches:

• Recruit, train, and support churches
• Work effectively with all IPs in overlapping counties
• Attend CP national conferences
• Staff an Ambassador Role:
  IP will hire or assign an Ambassador to serve as the lead contact for all churches in their network. The Ambassador will be responsible for recruiting churches and coaching pastors/leaders. The Ambassador will report to IP leadership and be supported by the Regional Manager. Generally, a half-time Ambassador is needed per 50 churches.

Regarding Networks/Ecosystems (if also managing agencies):

• Support Platform, Networks, and Agencies
• Staff an appropriate Regional Manager Role:
  IP will also hire or assign at least one Regional Manager (RM) responsible to provide platform, agency, and network support across the region. The roles of Ambassador and RM can be played by the same individual as workload dictates at the discretion of IP leadership. Generally, a half-time RM is needed per 50 churches.

CarePortal Commits To
As a platform, CarePortal is used by various implementing partners that provide local support to agencies, churches, and community partners. Through this partnership, CarePortal provides:

• Access
  • Unlimited user access
  • Improve and maintain the technology platform
  • CarePortal website, mobile app, and other technology in support of the platform
  • Co-brand communications and platform interface
• Training
  • Provide a Training Specialist team
  • Provide relevant training programs and tools (click here to see an overview of CarePortal's training resources and events)
  • Host annual CarePortal Conference
• Support
  • Staff Area Director role
  • Advocate nationally and provide senior leadership
  • Systemic reporting
  • Provide tech support team
  • Provide marketing materials to include brand guidelines, logo usage, and URL convention