A Safe Refuge family located in Somerset, CA took their first short term care placement this past month for 16 days as they answered a hosting opportunity for a 3-month baby boy and his older brother who is 2 1/2. The birth mom had reported that her first-born had severe separation anxiety and the baby had a cold, but because they were in desperate need of a safe, warm home that would meet their needs, our host family answered the call.
Safe Refuge agreed to do a 2 week placement so that mom could find alternate housing for herself and her kids. All the details were discussed and paperwork was signed in the back of the Safe Refuge Ministry Lead’s van because the request was urgent and the weather was not good the day the kids needed to be picked up.
Even in the rain, the new host mom drove 30 minutes to pick up the kids in Placerville. Phone numbers were exchanged as well as a promise to this bio mom to care for her kids like they were her own.
The new Safe Refuge family served faithfully for 2 weeks as they worked through many challenging behaviors from the older boy with love and compassion as they knew he was going through an emotional roller coaster being away from his mother. In addition to the parenting struggles, the host family also had to take the baby back to the doctor because his cold was not resolving. Just because kids are in a temporary home, does not mean that their needs are placed on hold. Instead, this is the perfect opportunity to go the extra mile to provide the exact same care to a host child that parents would for their own beloved kids.
Thankfully the boys mom was able to find housing where the three of them could be reunited and she could now be the one attending to the additional medical needs of her sweet 3-month-old. This mother was on more stable ground due to the help she found from complete strangers who were willing to step in and provide a safe, stable place for her boys.
Hosting is always an inconvenient interruption to daily routines and well planned schedules...there's never a perfect time or a perfect situation that host families step into yet making room in our lives for others reminds us of our daily need for God’s grace. Grace to get through parenting challenges, grace to offer forgiveness to those who offend, and grace to know the deep, deep love God has for all of those created in the image of Himself. Each family who volunteers with Safe Refuge is being faithful to God’s commandment to care for orphans and widows - and they even get to do that from the comfort of their own homes!
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The mission of Safe Refuge for Children and Familiesis to protect children from potential neglect or abuse arising from a crisis by providing them with a safe, stable temporary refuge (home) and reuniting the family as quickly as possible when the crisis is resolved. With over 180 host families, 700 family friends to support them, and 45 church partners, Safe Refuge for Children and Families (SRCF) has provided over 4500+ days of temporary care to the children of families in crisis – equal to more than 12 years of care – in 15 Northern/Central California counties since we began in 2015. They've had 30 hostings in the last year in the Sacramento region alone. To learn more please visit saferefugecf.org
*Pictures used were not of the actual kids hosted to honor placement confidentiality
