Faith Communities For Family and Children [ www.FC4FC.org ]

All Saints Episcopal Church

Angelica Lutheran Church

Reverend Carlos Paiva

Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Mr. Tom Chabolla

Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region

Bishop Edward Clark

Archdiocese of Los Angeles,

San Gabriel Region Pastoral Center

Bishop Zavala

Ascension Lutheran Church

Reverend Albert Starr

Baptist Church of the New Covenant

Reverend Lemuel Williams

Board of Rabbis of Southern California

Rabbi Mark Diamond

California Council of Churches

Mr. Scott Anderson

Reverend Kathy Cooper LeDesma

Cathedral Center of St. Paul

Bishop Jon Bruno

University of Southern California

Center for Religion and Civic Culture

Mr. Don Miller

Conquering Word Christian Center

Henry Rodriquez

Crossroads United Methodist Church

Dr. Lydia Waters

Dreamyard L.A.

Chris Hendrickson

Ecumenical Council of Pasadena Area Churches

Mr. Frank Clark

Evangelical United Methodist

Church

Reverend Dwight Sullivan

FAME: First African Methodist Episcopal Church

Dr. Cecil Murray

Faith United Methodist Church

Reverend Andrew Robinson-Gaither

Faithful Service Baptist Church

Reverend Isam Taylor

First Church of God

Dr. Gregory Dixon

Reverend Kris Reed

First Lutheran Church of Carson

Reverend Raymond LeBlanc

First United Church of Christ Spiritual

Reverend George Mason

Greater Bethany Community Church

Bishop Noel Jones

Hebrew Union College

Mr. Steve Windmueller

Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Reverend Jim Lobdell

Immanuel Presbyterian Church

Dr. Frank Alton

International Buddhist Meditation Center

Rev. Kusala

Islamic Center of Southern California

Mr. Mahmoud Abdel-Baset

Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles

Mrs. Vivian Sauer, LCSW

Kehillat Israel

Rabbi Steven Carr-Rueben

Latter Day Saints Family Services

Dr. Michael Gardner

Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches

Reverend Everett Bell

Lutheran Office for Public Policy

Mr. Mark Carlson

Mission Delores

Mr. Mario Fuentes

Mission Ebenezer Family Center

Reverend Isaac Canales

Mount Hollywood Congregational Church

Reverend Paul Tellstorm

Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Muslim Public Affairs Council

Mr. Salam Al-Marayati

My Friend's House, Assembly of God, Inc.

Reverend Jim Ortiz

New City Parish

Mr. Louis Dorviliek

New Hope Baptist Church

Reverend Frank Higgins

New Philadelphia A.M.A.

Reverend Sherman Gordon

NISWA Association

Mrs. Shamin Ibrahim

Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region

Bishop Edward Clark

Praises of Zion Baptist Church

Dr. Benjamin Hardwick

Second Baptist Church

Reverend William Epps

St. Phillips Episcopal Church

Reverend Altagracia Perez

Stephen S. Wise Temple

Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz

Temple Ahavat Shalom

Rabbi Jerald Brown

Temple Isaiah

Rabbi Zoe Klein

Temple Shir Shalom

Rabbi Neal Comess-Daniels

Trinity Baptist Church

Reverend Alvin Tunstill, Jr.

Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Rabbi Allen Henkin

United Church of Christ

Rev. Daniel F. Romero

University Synagogue

Rabbi Zachary Shapiro

Vision, L.A.

Ms. Janice Martin

Walker Temple A.M.E.

Rev. Fran Cary

Ward AME

Reverend Norman Copeland

Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Rabbi Dennis Eisner

Wilshire United Methodist Church

Reverend Earl Thompson

A COVENANT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

As leaders of faith communities, we believe in children and families. It is our mission to support and be a voice for those children whose families cannot protect them and for families who are struggling to care for their own children.

We believe:

Every child, regardless of color, religion or physical or psychological limitations, needs a home and a committed family for life.

Families should be helped to stay together, if they can do so with safety for themselves and the community, and to care for and protect their own children.

Children who cannot live with their own families should live with other families who can protect and nurture them.

Children should not be separated from their brothers and sisters, friends, schools or communities, even though their parents are unable to care for them, unless this separation is necessary for their safety or the safety of the community.

Children whose parents cannot care for them should have the opportunity to have good education, quality health care, spiritual support and counseling to deal with their many losses. Like all other children, they should have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Children and adolescents need educational structure and support to become positive functioning members of society. Children and adolescents are particularly able to change and grow and are not always able to understand the consequences of their actions. To protect our communities and allow them to thrive, children and adolescents who commit illegal acts must be made to appreciate the consequences of those actions to themselves and others, and given the ability to change their behavior and seek forgiveness from the victims of their acts. This cannot be accomplished when children are treated as adults.

Young people, even after they are eighteen, have the right to be helped and supported by families and communities until they are able to become fully independent. They, too, need communities and families throughout their lives.

Families live in communities. Communities have the moral right and obligation to support their children and families.

The strength of all communities, and particularly faith communities, is in the health and well being of their children and families.

We are pledged to make these principles a reality by:

Advocating on behalf of youth and families to ensure that these principles are embodied in law, policy, and practice and that they guide decisions made by government and private agencies.

Educating ourselves and our faith communities about the often forgotten children and families who are caught up in the child protection and juvenile justice systems. Those of us who have these children and families in our congregations will use this education to assist them in understanding these very complicated systems.

Taking direct action to improve the lives of these children and families. Our level of involvement will vary with our circumstances. Some examples are: recruiting and supporting foster and adoptive parents; providing housing, emotional support and guidance for youth leaving the foster care system; mentoring or educating youth and families; conducting book or furniture drives; and ensuring that families have the economic support, health care and services, and opportunities for worship, recreation and social experiences they need.

Working with our communities to increase support for these children and families.

We are motivated by our faith, which requires that we care for our neighbor and protect the most vulnerable among us and by these principles. We believe it is critical that voices for youth and families be free of economic self-interest. We are guided by the expressed views of youth and their families and by our own interaction with them. We are committed to working together and sharing resources for this cause.

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Date: 2004[ Download MSWORD Format ]

The following are selected scriptural passages that illustrate and inform the principles of Faith Communities for Families and Children.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Zechariah 8:5;

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18

You must not deprive aliens and orphans of justice nor take a widow's cloak in pledge. Deuteronomy 24:17

You shall not ill-treat any widow or fatherless child. If you do, be sure I will listen if they appeal to me; my anger will be roused... Exodus 22:22

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, and to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:6

Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thristy or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and did nothing for you!? I tell you this, anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not do for me. Matthew 25:44-45

Learn to do good, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, uphold the rights of the orphan, defend the cause of the widow. Isaiah 1:17