Our chapters serve:

• Cook (City)
• Lake/McHenry and NW Suburban Cook
• DuPage/Kane/Kendall/DeKalb Counties
• Will, Kankakee, and SW Suburban Cook

Safe Families for Children got started right here in Chicago!

In 2003, the Safe Families for Children movement began in Chicago. Our goal then and now is to engage families via faith communities to open their homes to care for vulnerable children. Since then, we’ve had nearly 7,000 children placed into 1,400 Host Family homes. We currently have more than 1,200 Host Families opening their homes to more than 1,000 children each year in the Chicagoland area. Seventy-five percent of children placed are under the age of 6 years old. Over 90% of the kids return to their parents or a relative that is identified to take over.

The Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) in Illinois is our largest referral source. We are also referred to by our local police, hospitals, schools, agencies, and parents themselves.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

https://chicago.safe-families.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/SF-volunteerOnboarding-1-5.pdf

VOLUNTEER TRAININGS

Our trainings are designed to equip you to welcome a child into your home (Host Family) or support a host or family in need (Family Friend) and move you through the training process efficiently. The virtual Comprehensive Training Session includes everything you need to become a certified Safe Families’ Volunteer.

We offer Core/Family Friend training (an overview of Safe Families and Family Friend training – also known as Host part 1 training) and Host training (Host part 2 training). You can register for either Zoom trainings or live in-person trainings below. Each training is about 2 hours long.

Please click HERE for new volunteer training sessions.

Quarterly Training Session Calendar HERE

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS – Keeping Children Safe & Families Together

A Message From Our Founder: Why I Started Safe Families

“This was the calling the Lord put on my life. This was my vision for Safe Families. Now twenty years later, my heart is still stirred by unleashing the family to practice radical hospitality to support parents facing significant life stressors. When my wife and I started what is now known as Safe Families for Children, we had high hopes.

We knew that there had to be a better way to do child welfare. To impact those families in crisis whose children were on the edge of entering foster care and susceptible to abuse or neglect.

Safe Families for Children was born out of the need to keep children safe, keep families intact, and reduce the need for foster care. Today, I’m proud to say our volunteers and staff have been surrounding families in crisis with caring, compassionate community.

DONATE HERE

All reactions: