Keeping Children Safe With Their Families

A short-term crisis of poverty should never separate a child from their family.

When a parent falls behind on rent, loses a job, or faces an unexpected emergency, the risk is not just financial. In many cases, it becomes a child welfare issue. Housing instability, utility shutoffs, lack of child care, or having no safe place to sleep are often labeled “neglect.”

Together with Families responds within twenty four to forty eight hours. When timing can mean the difference between stability and a child being removed, speed matters.

Rapid Emergency Support

We provide flexible, immediate help when no other safe option exists. This may include:

• Rent and utility stabilization

• Emergency shelter support

• Transportation assistance

• Child care support so parents can work

• Health care access and navigation

• Beds and full bedroom setups for safe sleep

When families walk through our doors, they are not treated like cases. They are treated like parents in a hard season.

The Hub: A Family Resource Center

Families can access essentials through The Hub, including:

• Clothing and shoes

• Food

• Baby supplies

• Hygiene and cleaning supplies

These are basic needs. When they are met, children stay stable.

Peer Navigators: Support From Someone Who Has Been There

Families are paired with a trained Peer Navigator, a parent or relative caregiver who has graduated from our programs.

Peer Navigators meet weekly for up to ninety days in Family Preservation and Kinship Preservation cases. They help families:

• Create a clear, family-led stability plan

• Set measurable goals

• Navigate government systems

• Stabilize housing and income

• Build long-term security

This is not surveillance.
This is partnership.

Program Pathways

Family Support

Help before a hard season becomes a foster care crisis.

• Confidential emotional support for families living under the poverty line

• One-time flexible financial support for urgent needs

• Warm connections to housing, transportation, child care, health care, and benefits

• Access to The Hub and Family Cafés for ongoing stability

Family Preservation

For parents facing a poverty crisis that puts their children at risk of foster care.

• Rapid, intensive support to keep children safely with their parents

• Weekly Peer Navigator meetings for up to ninety days

• Flexible financial help tied to safety and stability

• Help navigating education, health care, benefits, and child welfare involvement

• Full bedroom setups for families coming out of homelessness

Kinship Preservation

For grandparents and relatives caring for children during a financial crisis.

• Rapid support to prevent placement disruption

• Weekly Peer Navigator meetings for up to ninety days

• Flexible financial help to stabilize housing, transportation, and employment

• Support navigating benefits, school systems, and health care

• Full bedroom setups so children placed with relatives have a safe place to sleep

What Happens Next

Emergency support is the beginning, not the end.

Families are invited into our GROW Together community through:

• Family Cafés: shared meals where families connect and build practical skills

• Circles of Support for relative caregivers

As families stabilize, many choose to give back by volunteering, supporting other parents, or stepping into leadership through our paid apprenticeship pathway.

Families who once needed support often return to help others, so more children can stay safely with family.

That is how community works.