• family

    Adoption grows and heals: ‘Everyone knew we would be the ones to step up’

    January 15, 2021 · Foster Care / Adoption,Foster Family Features,Ministry News

    Joseph’s younger sister, Vanessa, passed away four days after giving birth in December 2018. At her death, her two daughters from a previous relationship went to live with their birth father’s family. Four days after her mother passed, Alexis turned 10 years old. The girls entered foster care in January 2018, and in April, they came to live with Joseph and Tonya as a kinship placement. None of their lives would be the same – and yet, they were all the better for it.

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    Empty nesters: The family that farms together, fosters together

    January 7, 2021 · Foster Family Features

    Every morning, Jim Zamrzla heads out the door to work on the 5,000 acres he and Stephanie farm near Holyrood, Kansas. They raised three boys and a girl on that land, each of them learning the importance of chipping in and helping out to support the needs of the family. So, when their daughter and youngest child, Taylor, prepared to leave home, the couple wondered just how much their lives would change – and how quiet their house would soon become.

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    Forever family is covered in God’s fingerprints

    November 16, 2020 · Foster Family Features

    Their story begins a mere three years ago, or eight, if you consider how long Shiyrah and Shadow spent trying locked door after locked door. When they finally found the one that opened, they discovered God’s fingerprints all over it. This month, the six of them formally become one, a Williams family on paper as well as in their hearts.

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    Finding Shelter: Taking care of human trafficking survivors

    October 17, 2020 · Ministry News

    Anti-human trafficking agencies throughout the country graciously shared their resources and time in a survey conducted by Saint Francis Ministries to produce a listing of the number of beds available to survivors of Commercial Sex Exploitation and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, or CSE/C. This listing is designed to be a resource to communities, nonprofits, and government leaders who are working to develop stronger networks of support for survivors and to connect them with these services.

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    BCBS of Kansas Foundation grants $25,000 to support telehealth

    September 23, 2020 · Ministry News

    A $25,000 grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation will support access to critical behavioral health services for Kansas residents through the expansion of telehealth services. The Saint Francis Ministries’ Outpatient Behavioral Health department will use the funding to support its telehealth services, which have been important in reaching clients during the pandemic when social distancing measures were needed. Telehealth means therapy sessions and other behavioral health services are offered virtually.

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    Saint Francis Mississippi adds new services

    September 21, 2020 · Ministry News

    A collaboration between Saint Francis Ministries and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will offer Picayune area adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities opportunities for fun and educational activities. Saint Francis Day Services – Adult opened its doors Aug. 3, 2020, at 1421 Goodyear Blvd., in a building at St. Paul’s campus that formerly housed the parish’s education center.

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    Hi-Lites 2020: Fall

    September 10, 2020 · Hi-Lites,Newsletters

    75th Anniversary Edition, Board Member Has Nearly 50-year Connection, A Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, Fostering is a Life's Work, Reflections with Fr. Bobby, Presidents, Cutting-Edge Research, A Career Noted for Learning, The Saint Francis Foundation

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    So okay with being so sad

    September 8, 2020 · Foster Family Features

    Four months after receiving their first placement, Noah and Kelsey Mathes felt as if their hearts were breaking. Phoning family to tell them that the little girl they’d cared for since she was eight months old would be returning home had seemed completely natural. After all, they’d called everybody when they learned she would be placed with the Abilene, Texas, couple. Those conversations, however, were celebratory; this one … not so much. Yet, Noah could still say to Kelsey, “I’ve never been so okay with being so sad.”

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