PORT ST. LUCIE — Communities Connected for Kids, 4KIDS of South Florida, the Department of Children and Families and the Global Orphan Project are partnering with churches throughout the Treasure Coast and South Florida to launch CarePortal, as a faith-based initiative to help children at risk of abuse and neglect remain safely at home.

Along the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee, CarePortal will launch Dec. 3, 2020, at a hybrid event with in-person invitees limited due to social distancing capacity. Those interested in knowing more about how to attend by Zoom, please contact Tim Putman, 4KIDS Vice President of Prevention and QA/QI at 772-485-3587.

CarePortal is a tech platform developed by the national Global Orphan Project to connect child-welfare professionals with churches willing to meet both tangible and intangible needs of families and children in the system of care.

This is how it works: A case manager at CCKids identifies a need and submits it into the system. Responding churches receive an email with the request and can respond immediately or collaborate with others to meet the request. Through CarePortal, the church responds directly to the requestor and the connection is coordinated to meet the needs of the family.

While this is a new initiative in the Treasure Coast and South Florida, CarePortal has served over 80,000 children, engaging nearly 2,500 churches, and providing over $26 million of financial benefit to the child welfare system in across the United States.

As Implementing Partner, 4KIDS brings church and agency partners together, providing training and support for the use of CarePortal on the local level.

About Communities Connected for Kids Communities Connected for Kids is the non-profit organization responsible for the child-welfare system in Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. The system of care includes foster care, adoptions and protective services.