Begin Again Visitation Center

Jesus' first action as he descends from the mountain after the Transfiguration is to heal a young boy and restore him to his father (Luke 9:37-43). In the same way the community of faith is called to put their spiritual experiences into action by engaging in ministries that promote healing and wholeness to those families within their community.

St. John's in partnership between the Fulton County Juvenile Court, the Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services will become a Faith-Based Visitation Center by providing a safe, comfortable, neutral and accessible location for frequent visitations of children and their families during evening and weekend hours.

Purpose

Every year over 5,000 children come to the attention of the Fulton County Juvenile Court because of abuse or neglect. In many of these cases, children are separated from their parents and put into foster care. While the central concern of the Court is the protection of the child, its underlying goal is reunification of parent and child when at all possible.

As people of faith realize, living in meaningful relationship is essential to being whole. A Faith-based Visitation Center is a mission dedicated to promoting relationships among children and their parents who are striving to transform their lives and reunite as families. These centers open the door to maintaining the important bond between parent and child while providing the family the gift of normalcy in a time of turmoil and hope that will inspire the parent to continue the often difficult journey to a new life. A Faith-based Visitation Center engages a congregation in a hands-on outreach project for children and parents who live within their own community. By putting their faith into action, members are touching the lives of children and parents who have a critical need for the faith community's healing touch.

Fulton County Challenges

	Currently, a child in foster care visits with a parent once a month for 2 hours which equals to 24 hours - one full day per year.
	Visits are primarily during business hours which creates a conflict for parents who are trying to find employment and children who are in school.
	Visits are generally at offices of the Department of Family and Children's Services which are not centrally located.
	Current visit locations are sterile and uninviting and don't provide many amenities for visiting families.
	Because a case worker has to be present for the visit, there is often not a comfortable interaction between parent and child.

Faith-Based Visitation Center Solutions

	Through the supervision of a trained group of volunteers from the congregation, opportunities for visits are expanded.
	More flexible hours would enable visits to occur on weekends and in the evening.
	Locations of congregations within the communities where the families live and work enables more convenient visits.
	Places of worship provide a warm and comforting atmosphere for visits as well as amenities such as play equipment and separate rooms for private visits.
	With a trained congregation volunteer sitting in on the visit, families are put at ease because the volunteer has no involvement with the authorities.

What Does A Congregation Need To Sponsor a Faith-Based Visitation Center?

Physical Space
A greeting area where parent and child check in with an administrator and meet the volunteer whom will join them for the visit.
A comfortable, private visitation space for each parent and child who are visiting (such as a Sunday School classroom).
Amenities for visitation areas such as tables, play equipment, age appropriate toys
A waiting area for foster parents.

Coordination
A congregation volunteer or staff member who would serve as Supervisor and would be the link with a Fulton County Visitation Program Coordinator.
The Supervisor would be in charge of record keeping for families involved in visits and the coordination of the congregation's volunteers who sit in on the visits.
The Fulton County Coordinator will assist the Supervisor in initial program organization and start up and provide ongoing information and support.

Volunteers
Volunteers to sit in on visits, to greet and sign families in, and to serve as hosts while visits are taking place.
Volunteers are trained to understand their role, responsibilities and reporting in regard to a visit.
A group within a congregation may be interested in making this program their outreach mission focus and serve as the primary source of volunteers.

Visitation Schedule
The schedule of visits is flexible so that visits blend comfortably with the current life of the place of worship.
Visits are scheduled during weekend or evening hours.
The number of visits conducted at the same time are determined by the size and volunteer commitment of each individual congregation.

Budget
Since the Visitation Program is coordinated and facilitated by volunteers within the congregation, there are no additional direct expenses to the congregation's budget.

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On October 13, we commissioned 22 Begin Again volunteers. On October 19, Begin Again volunteers supervised a visit, marking the beginning of the first ministry of this type in Fulton County. A few weeks ago, the rector received the following letter:

Dear Rev. Pritchett:

I wanted to take a moment to write and personally thank you for your leadership in the Visitation Center that will be opening in a few weeks at your church. I understand that your recent volunteer training was very successful and many of your parishioners are ready to actively work to make this program a success. We at Fulton County Juvenile Court, know this program will make a significant difference in the lives of the children and parents who will be participating. We have heard of the value of visitation centers in the two other counties currently operating them and had wanted to see it replicated in Fulton County. Your saying "yes" on behalf of children is turning this desire into reality. For this we are most grateful. I look forward to meeting you and visiting your Visitation Center in the very near future.

Sincerely,

Nina R. Hickson

Chief Presiding Judge, Fulton County Juvenile Court

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