Volunteer Families For Children Of North Carolina

Causes: Children & Youth, Domestic Violence, Family Violence Shelters, Foster Care, Homeless & Housing, Single Parent Agencies

Mission: Volunteer Families for Children of North Carolina provides emergency and planned respite care to children in crisis or emergency situations. Respite care is offered to help protect children from harm and maintain family stability. Respite, defined as temporary relief, is available in emergency situations or on a planned basis. VFC's mission is to provide North Carolina's children with safe, short-term care through a network of licensed host families.VFC serves children from a wide range of ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups. Many are at-risk of abuse, neglect, or displacement from their current home situation. The North Carolina Respite Coalition recognizes VFC as the only respite provider of this type in the state, often serving those who might otherwise "fall through the cracks". As a state-licensed child-placing agency, VFC recruits, trains and licenses host families, who, in turn, care for the children we place. VFC's emergency and planned respite services last from one to 30 days, with the average length of stay being three days. A racially, ethnically, and economically diverse group of children are in need of placement with VFC host families. All of the children served are from fragile families where VFC intervention supports the parents or guardian. The parent or guardian signs a voluntary placement agreement, as VFC does not accept custody of children. VFC focuses on supporting families, enabling them to care for their children.VFC is supportive of families/caretakers who have a crisis in their lives such as illness, homelessness, drug problems, etc. (emergency placement) or those who need a break from the responsibility of caring for a child (planned placement). A parent can become exhausted in times of stress requiring intervention. Normal infant, toddler, pre-school or adolescent behavior may push these stressed parents over the edge into abuse/neglect. Current foci are to educate the community relative to the value of respite care; recruit, train, and license more host families, provide care to more children and provide support and linkage for families in need to appropriate services in the community. Helping families stay intact by offering them respite services reduces the number of children entering the foster care system, thus creating a healthier community. Helping these families helps all of us live in a better community.