​We’ve reached the middle of summer and most churches have planned and/or completed their summer programming for the children they serve.  As we hear about VBS programs across the metro area and how churches are stepping in to care for vulnerable children, Project 1.27 received a surprise from one of our partner churches.  As they planned their VBS, BRAVE church reached out and asked to partner with us in serving children in foster and adoptive homes.  Each year, their High Five Campers (VBS) partners with a local ministry to support them and the people they serve by collecting ..read more

​It was Christmas. I was tired, sad, mad, and filled with every other emotion you can think of. But because I was signed up to be a parent helper at an event for my children's small preschool, I piled two rowdy boys into the car. The event included a free meal, and I was thrilled I didn't have to cook! As soon as we walked in, the shenanigans began.  All the children were wild, which comforted me, knowing it wasn't JUST MY KIDS! It was awkward because my husband was on patrol, so I was single-parenting.  I knew no one, so I took a deep breath and courageously asked if we could join ..read more

We’ve all had those days.  You know the ones.  You wake up on a beautiful summer morning to a day full of potential.  As a treat, you let the kids wake up on their own and imagine a morning filled with kids happily playing with Legos, reading books, and quietly coloring before you have a nutritious lunch - where everyone cleans their plates. Then, you are all happily off to the pool.  Can’t you feel the expectation?  A day you dream about, long for, one that you thought parenthood promised.   Instead, you may wake up to a beautiful morning and even have a f ..read more

Nearly half of the children who are fostered and adopted are placed with families whose cultures or races are different from their own. When families open their homes and hearts to children within the foster care system, foster families need to learn and practice cultural competency.  Culture is a set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behavior standards passed down from one generation to the next.  Culture defines what is natural and expected in a given group; it includes language, food, dress, styles of communication, and child-rearing patterns. Recognizing and adjusting to diffe ..read more

1996. A small church in the small town of Possum Trot, Texas. It was unusual for the first lady of Bennet Chapel, Donna Martin, to even think about going to a foster care information meeting in a distant town, but as Donna was praying, she sensed God’s direction to open her home to children in foster care. After attending the meeting, Donna and her husband, Reverend Martin, became foster parents and inspired 22 Bennet Chapel families to adopt 75 of the hardest to place children.   My husband and I were foster parents in California back then. This wasn’t a time when James 1:27 and caring ..read more

​​May is National Foster Care Month. This month at Project 1.27, we are praying for all the people like you who put the “care" in foster care. In Colorado we need more families to foster and more people to care for foster families. So, join us in praying for more than enough families to take the first step toward fostering and for hearts to be stirred and encouraged to care for kids.  Care looks like a single kinship grandmother who lost her job because she missed work when her one-year-old grandson was in the hospital with pneumonia. Grandma joined an ECHOflex group, connecti ..read more

It’s May! That means families are preparing for summer break. Many families have a love/hate relationship with summer break, and foster families are no different. Transitions like school breaks and holidays can be very stressful for children who have experienced the trauma of being removed from the care of their biological family and sometimes experience multiple transitions in multiple foster homes. If it’s stressful for the kids, chances are it’s stressful for the parents! This month, we encourage you, as a support team, to think about ways you can help reduce the stress of the foster ..read more

Last month, Timberline Church held its annual Orphan Care Weekend.  During that weekend, Pastor John Mehl said something that, I believe, can transform any local church.  In talking about The Hope for the Journey Conference, he hopes his church can improve by 5%.  He doesn't keep coming each year and inviting more and more of his volunteers because he wants everything to change drastically and change immediately.  He said, "If we can just be 5% better this year than last year, that will make the biggest difference over time."     The temptation is to l ..read more

Churches, are you preparing for summer VBS or Sports Camps? Or a Middle or High School retreat? We have two opportunities to help you as you prepare for your summer kids’ and youth ministries! We would love to provide Trauma Informed Training and an idea for a Project 1.27 Service Project.   We can all agree that “children are valuable image-bearers of God and deserve to be cared for in a way that their brand and body can receive.” We all want to put this into practice with each child we come in contact with, but do we have the tools to do so? I know that before becoming a foster p ..read more

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Project 1.27 is joining the pinwheel campaign along with hundreds of other organizations, churches, and government agencies to plant or display pinwheels in remembrance of abused and neglected children.  In 2008, Prevent Child Abuse America introduced the pinwheel as the new national symbol for child abuse prevention through Pinwheels for Prevention®. Research has shown that people respond to the pinwheel. By its very nature, the blue pinwheel signifies whimsy and childlike notions. Planting a pinwheel represents the bright childhoods we a ..read more