From the State Legislature to Federal Agencies to the White House, I often saw the same thing:  dedicated men and women who’d gone in to public service with high hopes of doing great good…now weary and discouraged.  They’d started years before with bright eyes, wanting most of all to “make a difference” — from child protection to global health.  But both the immensity of the needs and the tangles of bureaucracy had squeezed most of the life out of their dreams.

I hear the same thing from many local child welfare professionals, from case workers to program managers.  They are doing their very best to keep their candle from blowing out in the headwinds they face daily.  But every hour a new gust comes along — overwhelming case load, hard decisions about when to remove a child from an on-the-edge-family and when to leave them there, office politics, criticism from the media, and much more.

Christians should be the first to come alongside these battle-weary workers with encouragement — to tell them they are valued, that their work matters, and that we want to walk alongside them as best we can.

The new National HELP Week for Child Welfare Professionals is your chance to do just that!

The CAFO National Foster Care Initiative is launching this first annual National HELP Week the week of May 10-16, 2015. We are asking churches around the country to H.E.L.P. (Honor, Encourage, Love, and Pray for) the child welfare professionals in their community. Catch a glimpse of what its all about this short video, released today.  It demonstrates with simplicity the great significance of the church caring for the workers that serve kids in foster care day-in and day-out.

National HELP Week for Child Welfare Professionals from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.