Flagler College

Fostering Congregations

The Fostering Congregations Initiative aims to assist congregations as they strengthen ministries that walk alongside parents and caregivers who seek to share their faith and values with children who have experienced significant trauma through foster care. Working collaboratively with Texas Christian University’s Karyn Purvis Institute of Children Development (KPICD), Flagler will adapt for congregational use KPICD’s highly regarded research-based Trust-Based Relational Intervention resource, which is a holistic model of care designed to respond to the complex needs of children who have experienced trauma. Flagler will identify 10 partner organizations within KPICD’s networks, and each of these organizations will work with three to five congregations each in their geographic proximity to help them test uses of trauma-informed care practices to nurture the faith of children. Drawing on insights from the congregations, Flagler and KPICD will produce practitioner training resources and host workshops to equip other pastors and ministry leaders in using the resources for supporting parents and children in their churches.