Serving Kids in Care an Act of Good Faith

January 27, 2021

St. Lucie West -

More than 120 child-welfare professionals and faith and community leaders assembled online Thursday, Jan. 21, for the local launch of An Act of Good Faith – a faith-based initiative championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to bring more resources to families served by the child-welfare system.

The event featured appearances from Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, Tony Dungy and Christian recording artist Chris Tomlin. Each spoke directly to the local faith community about the need to blend the needs of the dependency system with the resources of local churches, mosques and synagogues.

“The purpose of this meeting is to see how you, the community, can work with us in this initiative,” Ms. DeSantis said.

One by one, each guest shared their story of inspiration and encouraged those on the call to find their own way to help – through meal delivery, laundry service, or providing respite to foster families, for example.

An Act of Good Faith – and the smaller initiatives and projects that it umbrellas – makes it easy for local faith groups to “jump in.”

CarePortal, for example, has already launched in St. Lucie and Martin counties, connecting the needs of local families with a growing network of churches. The project will launch in Okeechobee and Indian River counties once enough churches join the network.

“With your help, we will be able to reach families in an unprecedented way,” said CCKids CEO Carol Deloach. “CCKids will do all that we can to make the vision a reality.”

Tomlin closed out the event with an acoustic version of his hit song, "Good, Good Father."

CLICK HERE to watch a video of this event