November 2020 Newsletter
Education News
CELEBRATING GROWTH AND LEARNING
Historically, our Education Program offerings have always been in person. As you can imagine, COVID-19 impacted our plans for the year in big ways. With the help of technology, some gifted counselors, and a lot of grace, we were able to continue offering quality resources to foster and adoptive parents. This is what some participants had to say about the Education Program this year:
Choosing to Care Conference • February 1
“Blown away by what God is doing in the Athens area and the amount of people there. Breakout sessions were really practical and helpful. The amount of different sessions offered was a big win!”
“Seeing so many people who care about Fostering and Adopting! The community continues to grow and become more diverse.”
Learning to Care • September 21
“LOVE that you made this at 8:00PM - very practically minded in order for people to attend. Chosen for Life is always looking at real ways to help provide real life training and even making it most convenient!”
Learning to Care • November 2
“This class truly shed some light on my (and my husband's) attachment tendencies and how those play out in our parenting. It made me think about about how we can do better and gave me tools to use (such as the feelings wheel).”
If you would like to see what one of our Learning to Care Workshops is like, or if you missed the course and want an opportunity to hear from Whitney White or Thorn Winkler, view the videos below.
Adoption News
CELEBRATING FAMILIES
So far in 2020, we have had the privilege of awarding 12 families with financial support through our Adoption Assistance Grant. The year is not over, but we want to take a moment to celebrate.
Financial barriers often prevent families from adopting. We believe that the financial hardships and future uncertainty of this year will continue to impact adoptions. But we also believe that for families that step forward to adopt, the hope of financial support is more important now than ever. It is our honor to do so. 100% of donations to our Adoption Assistance Grant fund go directly to helping more families welcome sons and daughters home.
We look forward to helping more families in 2021 with your help.
Foster Care News
CELEBRATING HARD WORK
Our Foster Care Program works through partnerships with local churches. At each church partner we need a champion, someone who is excited to spread awareness about the needs of vulnerable children and families within our community and keep those needs at the forefront of church leadership and the congregation. We call these hard working individuals Advocates.
We are grateful for the opportunity to celebrate our Advocates with a special event we call Advocate Gathering. This year, we came together with the good people at Rekindle to learn the art of candle pouring.
Advocates came together for a fun night of encouragement for a job well done in the midst of really difficult circumstances. We celebrated with boxed dinners from Newks. Each Advocate was able to let their nose lead the way to two custom candles to enjoy.
We are so grateful for the work that each Advocate does. We truly cannot do this work without them. If you are interested in learning how you can champion the needs of children in foster care to your church, let us know! You can see our church partners and advocates here. If your church isn’t listed, we would LOVE to talk with you. Contact Jessi Williams for more information.