Billy-Jo O’Leary shares updates, encouragement and prayer points related to Home for Good’s work across the South-East.

Recent highlights

This term Billy Jo has been enjoying conversations with Brighton and Hove fostering team to think about the development of church engagement to increase enquiries in order to find local homes for local children across Brighton and Hove.

Over the past term Billy Jo has been working towards deeper relational working between volunteers and volunteer champions with West Sussex recruitment team and communications team. With the support of Laura from PACT, Billy Jo and Laura delivered the training session enabling the volunteers to hear more about the work of pact across the region of the southeast.

Where is our work making a difference?

I have seen our work making a difference in and around the area of growing and developing support groups and linking peer-to-peer support. An example of this work took Billy Jo to City Coast Church to support foster carers who are volunteer champions speak with church leadership about the possibility of the church registering as a home for your church.

Billy Jo has been engaging with church leaders from Christian Action Brighton supporting churches in the Brighton area to think through becoming home for good churches and growing the volunteer hub network.

We have supported I knew going for foster carers and adoptive families on the Isle of Wight where earlier last month they hosted their first gathering.

How have you been engaging with volunteers?

It's been a very exciting term supporting our volunteer team and volunteer Champions. I've especially enjoyed resourcing and supporting Champions to do speaking engagements some of these have been online events and one in a school assembly.

We enjoyed some time together on our first connect call with volunteers earlier this year and I look forward to the online call coming up next week where we will share ideas pray for one another explore our dreams. Billy Jo will be sharing more about the campaign who cares.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer Champion you can find out more here.

How has your area been participating in the current campaign?

What a great opportunity for Billy Jo to have attended spring harvest Minehead with her husband at the launch of the new campaign: Who Cares?

Will you join the hundreds who have already signed to pray for one of the 38,000 children he will enter the care system this year?

Here is a photo of the team and Volunteer champion Sam and Stu Judd with their family.

Will you take a moment to think about who you can share this opportunity with. Do you attend a house group, are you part of a church unity mooting, do you have church notice sheets, do you have church newspapers newsletters, can you think of creative ways for home for good to be able to reach the thousands of Christians in the churches across the UK that they may have the opportunity to also pledge to pray in order to say ‘I care’.

You can find more about our Who Cares campaign here.

Other activity & stories

“Of course we'd love to be a home for good church Billy Jo, we love home forget Billy Joe.”

Billy Jo as she was talking to a church leader who’s family are foster carers and whom Billy-Jo knows well. The conversation continued and soon the church will join the growing number of registered Home for Good churches in the South East.

Are you in a Home for Good church who might like to join others in seeking to deeply welcome and support families caring for children and young people. You can find out more here https://homeforgood.org.uk/home-for-good-church

It was great to be at city life church in Portsmouth for a couple of days sharing with Gate way people At their two day conference. Billy Joe caught up with home figured champion Paul Woodman and church leader Sean Blackman and new volunteer champion Charlotte O’Leary.

Billy Jo was joined by Tania bright CEO of home for good in an exciting opportunity in Southampton at Saint Mary's church. We spoke to the congregation in the morning about hope an transformative communities and hosted a lunch for those who were interested in finding out more where we were joined by the Cllr Darren Paffey.

It was great to have Rebecca with us who leads the work of safe families across Southampton.

West Sussex Fostering Information Evening

Billy Jo has been working with West Sussex volunteer champions to support them in delivering an in-person information session. Billy Jo has been working with West Sussex volunteer champions to support them in delivering a personal information session. A newly approved West Sussex foster carer hosted the event and West Sussex recruitment team also joined for the evening sharing stories sharing experiences and answering questions.

Following the successful work between Home for Good volunteers and the West Sussex recruitment and communications team, regular updates in the fostering newsletter enabled three other Christian families to connect with the existing Christian support network across the West Sussex region.

This support network also has a support group that meets in person three to four times a year online monthly and has a WhatsApp prayer group.

Support groups

It is a joy to support and developed support groups across my work. Recently the North Hampshire support group will be celebrating their Spring activity day. One of the joys of my work is to see families connect and support each other thank you to each and every support group leader who enables these families to connect.

Earl shares – “We had 15 families on Sunday with about 60 people, so chilled. I'm also getting feedback from the group about what else they might like, and if there are other ideas that could happen in the group. So lot's happening and it's all exciting! I'd say it was the best spring event we've had; much help and new families.”

If you are part of a support network and you would like to think about and talk to Home for Good about becoming our home for a od registered support group please do get in touch. https://homeforgood.org.uk/peer-support-volunteers

What's coming up?

• Church engagements Horndean, Maidstone, Isle of Whight, Littlehampton, Ashford, Surry
• New group running in Chichester lead by a volunteer champion (advert above)
• We have an existing group also running in Farnham if you want to link up.
• Big Church Festival

What can I be praying for?

We would love you to stand with us in prayer as we continue to work to find a home for every child who needs one in the South East.

• New support groups around Southampton, Portsmouth, Dorking, Surry, worthing, Brighton and Hove, South East Kent.
• A spirit of collaboration, working with volunteers and local authority
• That homes are found for children in this region as I am hearing more and more about children being moved too far away from their countries.

Are there any events happening soon that I can attend?

You can find all of our upcoming events here: https://homeforgood.org.uk/events

How do I get in touch with a member of the Home for Good team in South East England?

[email protected] Regional Lead: South East of England