Chicago

Safe Families for Children-Chicago began in 2002 in the wake of a particularly deadly summer for children. Week after week there had been news of another child in Chicago who had died at the hands of a parent. The city responded with an awareness campaign that included billboards featuring a photograph of the police commissioner and the words "No Child Should Die for Crying," along with a child protection hotline number.

Dr. David Anderson, Executive Director of LYDIA (a Christian social service agency in Chicago), reacted to the crisis by writing Mayor Richard M. Daley. In his letter, Anderson asked, "Isn't it shame that a family can't get help until after they have abused or neglected their child? At that point, the children have been removed from the home and parents often have little hope of their children being returned."

Dr. Anderson then made a radical proposition in his letter: What if compassionate Christians opened their homes to children from families in crisis before the children were taken into state custody? The mayor and one of his trusted deputies responded enthusiastically and helped find seed money to implement this bold undertaking.

By February 2003, Safe Families for Children-Chicago began with a handful of volunteers. This movement has now grown to close to 400 volunteer families in the Chicago area alone with a placement rate of over 30 a month. Along the way, hundreds of people have been touched and changed — not only those served by the ministry, but those serving as volunteers as well.