12-Month Outreach Plan For Houseparents and Children
We thank the Lord for His providential care over the ministry of New Song Mission, and we give Him the praise both for how He has led us this far and the good things we trust He will do in the future on behalf of the ministry for the sake of children. We’ve learned much with each challenge New Song has been through over the years, so we are very thankful to the Lord even for the difficulties, because in them comes opportunity to learn and grow.
As you read the following 12-month plan of action for hiring houseparents and bringing in children, please be in prayer for us. Our goals include having two sets of houseparents, one set of relief houseparents, and up to twelve children living in our two finished homes by next fall, to the glory of God, and having our third home ready for additional houseparents and kids.
LEARNING FROM OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
We have learned some valuable lessons in recent months since losing our houseparents and first New Song child. Here are some of the areas in which we are growing:
What We’ve Learned about Houseparent Hiring and Coaching
- The need for improvement in various areas of coaching and managing houseparents
- The substantial complexity of the role of houseparents and the houseparent hire
- The added benefit of having a small team of objective interviewers involved in the hiring process in order to provide additional input
- The challenges associated with hiring houseparents who have infants and/or toddlers
- The importance of heavier exposure to training programs prior to hiring
What We’ve Learned about Generating Referrals of Children
- The long, sustained, personal effort it takes to build relationships with referral sources, particularly since we don’t receive court-ordered placements
- The extreme importance of regularly getting out and meeting with new referral sources
- The need to prioritize building relationships with those who most directly and regularly have personal interactions with families who are struggling
- The necessity of maintaining relationships with existing referral sources, staying in front of them so that they will remember New Song Mission when they connect with a child who needs care
What We’ve Learned about the Special Needs of Children
- What a tremendous blessing it is to minister to children with special needs
- How to better evaluate whether New Song is a good fit for a particular child
- How to better implement the Love and Logic parenting model
- How to best work with parents and grandparents who place kids in our care
- The importance of case management software to track the progress of the children who are in our care
What We’ve Learned about Helping Children Transition Out of New Song
- That there will be some kids we enroll whose needs we will be unable to meet, but we hope and believe that this will be a small percentage of the children who come to live at New Song
- How to communicate with a child transitioning out of New Song in a caring, compassionate way
- The importance of creating a discharge summary for the benefit of caregivers and potential future placements
- How we can best assist caregivers and advocate for children in helping to find alternative placements
OUR MARKETING PLAN FOR HIRING HOUSEPARENTS
The following new actions are being taken in order to generate a good pool of houseparent candidates from which we will choose two couples so that we can have community on campus:
- Increasing the houseparent benefits to be more comparable with other children’s homes
- Utilizing the donated services of an employee search firm who is helping us use technology as an additional houseparent recruitment and screening tool
- Purchasing advertisement on a Christian radio station in northeastern Indiana
- Requesting more than 100 churches to place a paragraph in their church bulletins about our houseparent need
- Reminding our 4,000 ministry contacts of our need for houseparents
- Revising our online advertisement with Houseparent.net
- Sending a press release to 275 newspapers across Indiana to make them aware of New Song, our need for houseparents, and our ability to serve children in need
- Advertising in a national foster parent magazine publication
- Contacting the Dean of Students at Christian colleges in Indiana and the Midwest
- Periodically repeating several of the above efforts over the next 12 months
- Conducting ongoing evaluations of our efforts and seeking additional recruitment opportunities
- Continuing to have focused prayer for houseparents, trusting that God will provide the right couples in His perfect timing
OUR PLAN FOR ENCOURAGING AND SUPPORTING HOUSEPARENTS
There are a wide variety of ways that we encourage and support our houseparents, helping them to be equipped and to know that they are valuable team members. But we can improve in several areas of our support of houseparents, including:
- Purchasing a comprehensive case management system to help with organization, reporting, and communication
- Increasing houseparents’ time off each week on a set schedule
- Refining our child enrollment process to better ensure the ministry is a good fit for any given child
- Providing houseparents with a better understanding of Love and Logic, our parenting model, early on in the process
- Providing off-campus accommodations during houseparents’ weekends off
- Increasing the number of meetings with our full staff in order to increase comradery and oneness
- Ensuring that houseparents feel better valued and appreciated in tangible ways
- Creating a support network through churches and individuals who can provide assistance such as periodic meals, cleaning, homework help, activity help, etc.
- Establishing an active campus life program in which kids and families can participate in order to build better community and a stronger support structure
RECENT OUTREACH EFFORTS FOR CHILDREN IN NEED
We are very encouraged by the positive results of an outreach plan we’ve begun implementing to referral sources who are in direct contact with children who need our help. We are receiving more referrals of kids than ever—14 kids in a short span of eight weeks. God has brought us these referrals by working through the following efforts in the last couple of months:
- Conducted 16 personal visits with referral sources at their offices or on the NSM campus
- Contacted 35 referral sources through personal emails and phone calls
- Presented to 6 small group meetings with agencies and ministry staff/members who are referral sources
- Distributed an estimated 150 brochures to referral sources
- Launched a new website that has specific information for parents and grandparents whose kids may need out-of-home care
- Sent a press release to 275 newspapers across Indiana to make them aware of New Song, our need for houseparents, and our ability to serve children in need
OUR PLAN OF OUTREACH TO REFERRAL SOURCES FOR CHILDREN
There are several hundred referral sources around the state of Indiana who can be contacted. Our efforts to build relationships with these organizations must be consistent and expanding. We believe that in the long run this will result in a steady stream of referrals of children to New Song.
We have found that the best method of reaching out to organizations that are in direct contact with at-risk children and youth is through personal visits. We’ve also identified the types of organizations that have proven to be our best sources for identifying children in need. As we expand our outreach through personal visits and campus tours, we will focus on:
- Organizations which provide temporary housing for children
- Ministries and churches who serve families living in impoverished neighborhoods
- Local jail chaplains and staff who are familiar with inmates whose children may need care
- Elementary and middle school guidance counselors
- Child welfare workers (DCS) and juvenile justice staff (Probation) in order to obtain referrals of kids before formal legal action is taken
- Counselors who help children and families who are struggling
We intend on initiating at least five new contacts each month with potentially strong referral sources such as those listed above in an effort to hold personal meetings with the organizations. In addition, we will be sending out monthly press releases to newspaper outlets around the state and producing other publications, radio ads, church bulletin ads, and using other means to consistently increase and expand knowledge about New Song’s readiness to help children in need. Finally, we will keep in contact quarterly with those referrals sources with whom we are already in relationship so that New Song will be kept on their minds.
OUR FINANCIAL PLAN
Our goal over the next 12 months is to hire and train 2 sets of houseparents, 1 set of relief houseparents, and care for up to 12 children, as the Lord wills. In order to do this, we must have a healthy operational budget to support the houseparents, the kids, and the ministry as a whole. In addition to these operational expenses, there are some important capital expenditures that must be made in order to complete phase one of our campus development, which, to the praise of God, is 95% finished. Below is our budget for the next 12 months:
Operational expenses…………………………………………….$390,000
Capital expenses
Home C construction materials and labor..………....$ 48,000
Home C furnishings and appliances………………....$ 42,000
Two gently used vans for Homes B and C……….….$ 40,000
Total 12-month budget $520,000
SUMMARY OF KEY ACTION STEPS
- Implement the enhanced marketing plan for houseparents
- Hire two sets of full-time houseparents and a relief houseparent couple by April 30, 2016
- Continue steady outreach to new referral sources for children
- Maintain the relationships we’ve established with referral sources
- Continue working with parents and grandparents who have contacted us
- Communicate our new plan and our financial scope to ministry friends
GOD’S GRACIOUSNESS AND PROVISION
We readily acknowledge our need for God’s gracious care and provision for New Song in the months ahead. We also praise the Lord for recent blessings, including:
- Lessons we are learning through the challenges
- New relationships with referral sources
- A new, professionally designed website valued at $26,000 that was fully donated
- A $10,000 gift from a Fort Wayne, Indiana foundation
- A $10,000 gift from a ministry supporter
- A $5,000 gift from ministry supporters
- A $3,100 gift from a ministry supporter
- Several other gifts from ministry supporters
- 70 monthly givers
- The completion of the New Song recreational park and its new gazebo
- Continued progress toward the completion of Home C construction
CONCLUSION
We are hopeful and optimistic. The recent feedback that we’ve received from referral sources has been very positive. The process we have for hiring houseparents and providing the necessary support has been refined, and our recent experience in working with houseparents and caring for New Song’s first child has also been very helpful. In addition, our educational program has proven to be successful, and our prayer team remains engaged. Also, giving has been steady and generous. We need the Lord’s continued wisdom and provision. We are dependent upon Him for success.
I ask for your continued support, patience, and prayers. We are working hard to get New Song off the ground in order to care for some of our state’s most vulnerable children, in the Name of Jesus. With your continued partnership, the beauty of the New Song campus will soon be experienced by many children, giving them the healing, hope, and guidance they so desperately need.