Pastor David Logsdon of First Christian Church in Cleveland, OK knows first-hand what a roller coaster of emotion the foster care journey can be. He and his wife fostered three children who they would later adopt.
As Logsdon shared his story he humbly stated, “I had no idea what the foster care journey would teach me. It exposed how selfish I am and that even though I thought I was the one who had something to offer, I had a lot of growing to do.”
He went on to joyfully state, “I will never regret the opportunity we had to open our home.” As pastor of their church, they were offered support but see that many people do not have that kind of relational connection or are too timid to ask for help. Their church looks forward to supporting others in their community who are on a similar journey.
First Christian Church hosted the Pawnee County Launch on August 8th, 2024, alongside First Baptist Church Cleveland, OK and the Pawnee Ministerial Alliance. They gathered together with Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) Child Welfare leadership and staff to learn about CarePortal being in their community and the potential positive impact that it can bring to the families in their communities.
David Clifton, the Oklahoma Human Services Child Welfare Region 5 Deputy Director, has seen the positive impact CarePortal has on local communities and is excited to see churches become the support system for so many families.
“We are all in this together” said Clifton as he spoke to the crowd gathered to launch the first CarePortal request in Pawnee County.
Pawnee County is the 66th county that 111Project has launched with CarePortal, leaving only 11 counties left to be launched. There are currently 737 active CarePortal Churches across the state. Over 36,000 children have been served by local churches through CarePortal and that has had an estimated economic impact of $16.1Million over the lifetime of the program.
“Although it feels like an overwhelming and unsolvable crisis, the drum that we keep beating on is that there’s more than enough support out there,” 111Project Executive Director Chris Campbell said. “We just need to figure out how to mobilize it and bring families together that care for kids and families. It’s not a resource problem, it’s that we’re not connected.”
Churches enrolled on CarePortal in Pawnee County include First Christian Church Cleveland and First Baptist Church Cleveland. Churches within the Pawnee Ministerial Alliance will be enrolling in the coming weeks.
Pawnee County has eight children in foster care as of August 1st, according to monthly numbers released by the OKDHS.
111Project Regional Manager, Ryon Moore, said the churches in Pawnee county have already been engaging in the needs in their area and CarePortal will open the door for them to make more positive connections with participating families.
The first request submitted to Pawnee County churches was for a washing machine for the loving biological family of a growing toddler. The toddler living in the home is currently in cloth diapers and due to not having a working washing machine it had become a big stressor for the family as they are currently washing all clothing in the sink. The family does not have the resources to travel to the nearest town to take any clothing to the laundromat. This type of request helps this participating family and can play a role in strengthening the family and easing some of the challenges of parenting.
First Christian Church had a washer available and were working together with First Baptist Church to see that the family receives the washer.
CarePortal has opened doors for meaningful support from churches to families in need throughout the state. Any churches or individuals interested in learning more or getting involved can contact us at the link below!