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About Foster Heart Link

Foster Heart Link, Inc. is a faith-based ministry in Pinellas County, and a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions are deductible under section 170 of the IRS code.

Mission, Vision, Statement of Faith

Mission Statement:
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me” Mark 9:36

Children are precious in the eyes of Christ and they are the future of our world. Foster children have experienced devastating loss emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Foster Heart Link’s purpose is to organize and mobilize the body of Christ to promote healing and restoration by showing the love of our God to these children and their families. We will accomplish this by providing loving care, godly counsel, and support services in order that they may fulfill the call of God on their lives.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Vision:

This ministry exists to provide loving care, godly counsel, and support services for troubled families and children in order that they may fulfill the call of God in their lives. These services shall include: recruiting qualified foster parents and volunteers to care for abused, neglected and abandoned children. We will recruit and develop a support system for foster parents/families by organizing a group within the church to provide pre-application administrative support, post-certification in-service training, mentoring, back-up foster families and babysitters.

Statement of Faith

  • The Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God, the sole authority for faith and practice.
  • There is only one God who reveals himself to man as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  • Man is separated from God due to sin.
  • God's Son, Jesus Christ, was born of the Virgin Mary, died on the cross for man's sins, and bodily rose again on the third day, ascended to the Father and will return to take his church.
  • Man can only be saved, have eternal life in heaven with God, by repenting of sin, and by faith, accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. This salvation is provided by the grace of God. Man cannot be saved through his own efforts or works.
  • We believe in the Holy Spirit who indwells believers and enables them to live a godly life.
  • We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

History

After months of prayer and planning Foster Heart Link held its first Board of Directors meeting July 1, 2004 with three directors. We adopted our Bylaws and began discussions on selecting other board directors.

We partnered with the then Lead Agency for the Community-Based Care in Pinellas and Pasco Counties, the Safe Children Coalition (SCC) and the Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association (PC-FAPA) in the fall of 2004 to care for the foster children during the parent association meetings which we arranged to be held at Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg. We called this our Second Tuesday Of the Month Project (STOMP). With the dedication and commitment of many volunteers this project still serves an average of 40 children every month.

On June 11,2005 we hosted the first Foster Parent Appreciation Event in partnership with Calvary Chapel, SCC, and the FPA. It was highly successful with over 200 foster parents attending the workshops and luncheon and over 100 foster children cared for by the volunteer counselors. We have since partnered to put on three other similar events. For our last event there were over 150 foster children who were presented to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For more information on this ministry's history please read this special message from the director.