September 2020 Newsletter
Education News
EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY IN NOVEMBER
We hope that you have found our transition to virtual Learning to Care opportunities simple. It is our hope that CFLM can continue to equip foster parents, adoptive parents, and others in our community with incredible, helpful content in the midst of this season. For the duration of 2020, our educational workshops will all be online. CEUs are available. If you require in-person CEUs to complete requirements for licensure as a foster parent, we recommend that you check with your agency.
Adult Attachment Styles: November 2, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Thorn Winkler, MA, APC, AMFT
“Adult Attachment Styles” will take place Monday, November 2. Thorn Winkler, MA, APC, AMFT, is a counselor at Stonegate Counseling Associates in Watkinsville, GA. He specializes in helping men, women, couples, and teenage boys experiencing family conflict, unwanted sexual behavior, depression, and anxiety. Before working in private practice, Thorn worked with teenage boys experiencing family transition and behavior issues at Eagle Ranch in Flowery Branch, GA.
As infants and toddlers, our primary caregivers imprinted a style of relating on us that carries into adulthood, affecting how we interact with our intimate partners, friends, and children. At this workshop, you will gain greater insight into your own attachment style, identify your style's strengths and weaknesses (and how to grow from those weaknesses!), and learn strategies to positively impact your child's primary attachment style for years to come.
Adoption News
HELP + HOPE RECAP
Chosen for Life Ministries held our first ever Help + Hope event on Saturday, August 29. If you’ve been a part of the CFLM family for long, you’ve likely heard of our Both Hands Project. Our mission is to help churches, communities, and families care well for foster and adopted children. With that in mind, in 2020 we transitioned to our Help and Hope fundraiser, allowing us to focus our support on the people and places in our community that care for vulnerable children in our state’s child welfare system. After postponing the event in April, we were anticipatory for this day to finally arrive!
With the help on Butler Landscape and Design and our friends at DFCS, we dreamed of a new space for families to visit together and meet with their caseworker. Incredibly, this dream was in the works before Covid-19, but we are so grateful to provide an outdoor space during this time. Supplies for the day were donated by our good friends and event sponsors. Our team of volunteers helped to install park benches, picnic tables, playground equipment, and to clean the area and spread mulch to create a safe play space. What a gift to serve our community in this way.
While the day has passed, you can still partner with us. On October 1, our fourth quarter grant cycle will open. Donors like you enable us to continue partnering with adoptive families. You can still make a donation to Help + Hope. 100% of every dollar given goes directly into our Adoption Assistance Grant Fund.
Foster Care News
FIND YOUR ROLE
We are so thankful for the many ways that churches, families, businesses, and community members have found their role in caring for vulnerable children within our community. We believe that we all have a role to play. Your role may look different from your neighbors, but together we can all support these children and families. We invite you to find your role.
Foster! Did you know that it is still possible to become a foster parent despite COVID-19? We have seen local child placing agencies creatively problem solve and shift many things to a virtual experience. The first step towards becoming a licensed foster parent is a no-commitment informational meeting. Find an upcoming Information Session to attend on the Home in 5 calendar. If you are interested in learning more about fostering, contact our Foster Care Director, Jessi Williams.
Join a Care Team! To join a Care Team, simply attend a brief one-hour orientation, which provides a quick look at foster care, explaining how and why children come into care. This orientation also helps you learn the various ways that you can support foster families by serving on a Care Team. Attend our next Virtual Volunteer Orientation on Thursday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m. by registering here.
Become an Advocate! Does your church have an Advocate? If not, consider championing the needs of children in care to your church congregation. By becoming an Advocate, CFLM will equip you to form Care Teams within your church and to support local foster families by meeting spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. Check to see if your church has an Advocate on our Church Partners page.