Date of Award

Spring 2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

College

Barnett College of Ministry & Theology

Department

Department of Christian Ministries and Religion

Primary Advisor

Dr. Robby Waddell

Second Advisor

Dr. Johan Mostert

Third Advisor

Dr. Jim Vigil

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new foster parent wraparound program at Journey Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The need for this program was found to be in alignment with the mission of God as seen in Isaiah 1:17, Acts 6, Romans 8, and James 1:27. The New Testament Church has a history of leading the way with innovative solutions to rescue orphans, and today, the church once again has the opportunity to lead the way in foster care solutions.

When Kenosha County leaders in the judicial, legal, and social services sector were recently asked how the church could help with foster care, they agreed that recruiting and supporting foster parents were the two largest needs. Therefore, the CompaCare Compassionate Care System of support was installed and studied at Journey Church with pre-study and post-study surveys. The results seem to indicate that Journey Church used this system with positive results after twelve months of implementation and experienced a positive shift in overall satisfaction of the foster care ministry by 25%. In addition, the number of foster parents who were determined to drop out in the upcoming year was reduced from 14% to 0% after support methods were applied. These two data points suggest local churches can positively impact stability and retention levels of foster parents through the CompaCare System of Compassion.

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