September is National Child Welfare Workforce Development Month, so throughout the month, we plan to celebrate our employees and the vital work they do every day.
Saint Francis turns 77 years old today, which speaks to the extraordinary resilience and purpose of this ministry and the people who have dedicated themselves to the protection of children and families for more than seven decades.
The Saint Francis Ministries vision consists of five impactful words. To transform lives and systems.
People come to Saint Francis Residential treatment facilities for lots of reasons.
The first goal of foster care, after ensuring the children are safe and cared for, is to reunite them with their family. We call it reintegration, and it is one of the joys of our work – seeing a family work toward becoming healthy, begin the process of healing from trauma, change long-term patterns, maybe start the journey to sobriety, learn to communicate. . . the list of changes we see occur is long.
Most people think of foster care when they hear “Saint Francis Ministries.” And that makes sense, especially since it’s one of our most recognizable programs. Yet, with this recognition, comes misperceptions.
Supporting leadership development is a critical part of the Saint Francis Ministries culture. Through our work at the Kansas Leadership Center and the experience of our leaders, we embrace the idea that everyone is a leader – that it is an action, and not a position.
Commitment to children and families doesn’t end with the work that's detailed in a Saint Francis job description – especially for many of our employees. When you help vulnerable kids and families, your heart and mind don't turn off when you leave the office. Many of our employees use their talents to give extra, taking time out from their personal lives to make a difference for kids.
Mary Gaston was just a little girl when she discovered a birth certificate with the name “Margaret” on it. It had to be her. The only other kids in the family were her older sister, Monica, and her younger brother, Bill. She knew that she and Bill were adopted, so by process of elimination, that meant her birth name was Margaret.
If anyone believes in redemption, it’s The Reverend Phil Snyder. For this Episcopal deacon, new beginnings are made possible through reconciliation and forgiveness. If that notion sounds familiar, it’s because Saint Francis Ministries founder, Fr. Bob Mize Jr., believed the same. He built a ministry on the conviction that forgiveness is one of the greatest instruments of transformation. Naturally, Deacon Phil agrees … because as a Saint Francis boy, he experienced it first-hand.
