Program Goals

The goals of the One Church One Child program are:

• Facilitate and develop campaigns that recruit appropriate shelter, foster and adoptive
• Develop and implement innovative approaches that reduce the length of stay for children in foster care who are available for adoption; families for children
• Educate the broader community about the plight of children in foster care
• Provide training and technical assistance geared toward the adoption of children by families and their communities
• Develop corporate public/private sponsorship to help support program service delivery
• Develop, monitor, and evaluate projects designed to address the needs of children in the child welfare system
• Provide retention and support services to families

Essential Components

The essential components of One Church One Child include:

• Recruiting families
• By posting photos of waiting children at adoption fairs, adoption forums, adoption conferences, etc.
• Through the nonprofit faith-based communities by training volunteers to find interested families in their local congregation and invite them to informational meetings
• By posting flyers, booklets, and brochures in local barber shops, hair and nail salons, local food markets, schools, libraries, sororities, fraternities, businesses, local stores, etc.
• By presenting at school programs; older foster care children who are advocates speak to groups as well
• Offering monthly parenting classes for adoptive parents using child welfare professionals and local social workers from the partnering agencies and also trained staff from local programs on topics such as:
• Homelessness
• Discipline and bridging the Gap
• Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Children in the Child Welfare System
• Understanding How Culture and Spiritual Traditions Impact Child Maltreatment
• Mental health issues
• Abandonment
• Neglect
• Parenting skills
• Educational issues
• Social behavior issues
• Employment enhancement
• Survival skills
• Anger management
• Health issues for children and family
• Social media control for children
• Confronting Conflict: Learning to Navigate Difficult Conversations
• Kinship Care
• Respite Care
• Providing resource materials to each interested family
• Working with some children when there are special events such as adoption parties, Christmas parties, parenting sessions, etc.

Program Delivery

Adult Services

One Church One Child directly provides services to adults (regardless of whether they are parents or caregivers) and addresses the following:

• Willingness to become a foster or adoptive parent and lack of knowledge on how to do this

Recommended Intensity:

18-25 contacts a week, 30- to 90-minute sessions

Recommended Duration:

6 months to 3 years

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Adoptive Home
• Community Agency
• Foster/Kinship Care
• Residential Care Facility
• School

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

One Church One Child has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

Office space, PowerPoint projector, screen, lap top, cell phone, AV, receptionist, secretary, recruiters, board members, and volunteers

Education and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

• Executive Director – management skills and outreach skills. Faith-based knowledge. Minimum qualifications is an AA degree
• Recruiters- 2 years of experience with community outreach and a Bachelor’s level degree or higher in social work
• Coordinators - AA degree or higher in social and community work

Education and Training Resources

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program , and there is training available for this program.

Training Contacts:

• Dr. Joan L. Wharton
  phone: (410) 323-6944
• Dr. Arie Sailor
  phone: (410) 323-6944(850) 414-5620
• Dr. Kary Free, Board President
  phone: (410) 323-6944(850) 414-5620(405) 514-8404

Training is obtained:

National OCOC training is done through the board and is provided onsite.

Number of days/hours:

It depends on the location and the program.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for One Church One Child.

Additional References