Bethany Christian Services - Greater Delaware Valley

Strengthen Families. Keep Children Safe. 

When a family is facing crisis, kids can become vulnerable to neglect and abuse. No family should experience this. Many parents rely on relatives and friends for support. But for some, this is not enough—or even an option.

That’s where Safe Families for Children comes in. Founded in 2003, Safe Families for Children surrounds families facing a crisis with caring, compassionate community. We are a volunteer-driven nonprofit that provides hope and support to families in our local communities.

Volunteers include:

• Host Families: open their home as a temporary, safe place for a child whose parent needs extra support
• Family Friend: encourage and support families by offering mentoring, transportation or babysitting to a parent who may be feeling isolated and has no support
• Family Coach: walk alongside a parent and help them to achieve their goals and connect them to needed resources 
• Resource Friend: give tangible needs, such as car seats, meals, clothes, etc to families struggling with life challenges

Safe Families for Children helps to keep families together by creating a supportive community for parents as they strive to overcome poverty, homelessness, health issues, job loss, or other obstacles. Research shows that children who grow up in their own families leads to better outcomes in terms of sense of identity, educational attainment, overall stability, and employment. The goal is family preservation. We believe when parents are supported and strengthened with intentional relationships, children can thrive and families can flourish!

The three primary objectives of Safe Families for Children are:

1. Keep children safe during a family crisis such as homelessness, hospitalization, or domestic violence in an effort to prevent child abuse and/or neglect.

2. Support, stabilize, and strengthen families facing crisis by surrounding them with caring, compassionate community.

3. Reunite families and reduce the number of children entering the child welfare system. We seek to be an alternative to foster care, where appropriate.