105: Cheri Jimenez | What is a Safe Family? -

105: Cheri Jimenez | What is a Safe Family?

Cheri Jimenez | Safe Families Raleigh Chapter Director

Cheri Jimenez presently serves as the Chapter Director for Raleigh Safe Families for Children (SFFC), a faith-based national movement that gives hope and support to families in distress.

SFFC reframes how families are supported during a crisis and is dedicated to family support, stabilization, and most importantly, child abuse prevention.

Parents voluntarily place their children in safe, loving homes when they are cared for while vetted volunteers provide family-like support to parents while they get back on their feet.

For the past ten years, Cheri has been a communications consultant for several non-profits such as the Miracle Hill Shepherds Gate, Girls on the Run, Homes of Hope and the American Leprosy Mission.

Previously, she served as the Executive Director for the Proverbs 31 Ministries and Communication’s Director for the North Carolina Family Policy Council (NCFPC) in Raleigh, NC and Concerned Women for America (CWA) in Washington, DC. In these roles, Cheri served as a spokesperson for both print and media outlets across the country.

Cheri holds an undergraduate degree in Communications and Public Policy with graduate work in Organizational Leadership at the University of Miami.

Cheri is married to Paul Jimenez and has two children, Emma Grace and Harrison.

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Cheri Jimenez joins me to discuss Safe Families for Children, supporting families in crisis, and the various roles people can fill to help a family in need reach a place of stability.

Questions Cheri and I Discussed:

(4:16) Share a little of your faith journey with us. How did you become involved with Safe Families for Children?
(7:40) What is Safe Families for Children? What is the purpose and the mission behind Safe Families?
(13:27) How does Safe Families for Children differ from foster care?
(18:57) If someone is listening, who is interested in getting involved with Safe Families, what are some of the volunteer roles they would fill?
(25:27) How does Safe Families get connected with families in need?
(30:37) Will you share 1 or 2 impact stories of families here in the Raleigh area who have come along side a family in crisis?

Quotes to Remember:

“I was brought up in a Christian home, we have a wonderful spiritual legacy. My grandparents were missionaries in Haiti for 46 years….Yy parents took over the work and the late 90s.”

“They [parents] maintain full custody. This is not something mandated by the state. They do not sign their children over…. They allow us to keep their children, so that they can make those changes necessary.”

“If we didn’t have a support system where would we be? So many of the individuals we serve just need help. So we are able to step in and through our host families…host their children while the parents get the help that they need.”

“This [Safe Families for Children] isn’t foster care.”

“Many of the families we serve, those relationships are long standing. Even after the children go back home, that support system that is put around them [remains].”

“There are many different roles that people can take on and we call it our circle of support.”

“We tell people we’re not here to help them solve all their problems, but we are here to get them to the next step.”

“A church stepped forward and wanted to give her and her son a Christmas.”

“We’re here to serve you and love you and support you, but it does take a parent willing to do the hard work.”