The Healing Power of Family
Wellroot has launched a new strategic plan this year that includes three new programs that will help more families stay together. Our mission statement at Wellroot reads, “We restore children and families from trauma through Jesus Christ.” What if we could prevent the trauma of entering foster care altogether? Wellroot President and CEO, Allison Ashe, explains in the below letter:
For 150 years, Wellroot Family Services (formerly The United Methodist Children’s Home) has been leading the effort to transform the lives of children and families in Georgia. Our vision is simple: we envision a world where every child is raised in a loving, compassionate, and nurturing home. While our vision is simple, achieving it will require a comprehensive plan that focuses on evidence-based practices that offer sustainable solutions.
Today, there are nearly 12,000 children in the foster care system in Georgia, which is double the number in our system just ten years ago. The system is overloaded, current interventions are ineffective, and the inability to distinguish poverty from neglect has caused thousands of children to suffer needlessly.
Numerous studies show that family preservation and reunification significantly improve the outcome for the child, which in turn provides better outcomes for our communities. Many children are removed from their homes because the family lacks essential resources or the knowledge of where to go to get the help they need.
If we genuinely want to impact children and families positively, it’s time to stop confusing poverty with neglect and devote ourselves to doing something about it. Let’s connect these families with the resources they need to create a safe and stable home. Foster families have traditionally received wrap-around services that help care for the child and the family. If we wrapped services around birth families the same way we do foster families, many children could stay with their parents – creating stability and opportunity.
Wellroot brings 150 years of expertise and experience in overcoming challenges to serve the state’s most at-risk children, teens, young adults, and families. In the spirit of creating a continuum of care and resources that will significantly improve the outcome for children and families in the foster care system, we have developed a bold three-year strategic plan that will use evidence-based programming to help children and families build resiliency.
There is a lot of work to be done, but we have the vision, the tools, and unwavering commitment to changing the outcome for our most precious resources: our families. We believe that well-rooted families help build well-rounded communities. We hope you will join us in this critical endeavor.
Sincerely,
Allison Ashe
President and CEO