Pastor's Corner: Child Bridge Ministry to be reestablished in Havre

On Thursday, Sept. 2, the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association had its first meeting of the new school year (2021-2022). Our special guest was Bryon Gustafson with Child Bridge. Here is the history of Child Bridge in Havre:

Way back on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, Child Bridge had its first organizational meeting here in Havre. Child Bridge started monthly meetings here in Havre on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Monthly meetings took place February, March, April, May, June, and July. All of the meetings took place from 6-8 p.m. at the Havre Assembly of God Church's fellowship hall. A crew from the Great Falls Child Bridge came every month to provide the instruction and take care of the children. Sometimes, churches in Havre would provide the dinner for the parents and children. Sometimes, the Great Falls Child Bridge would provide the meal. Due to lack of attendance during the summer months, and a lack of child care personnel, Child Bridge canceled the monthly meetings for August and September, 2019. At our first GHAMA - Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association - meeting of the next school year (2019-2020), on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, we invited Child Bridge's Bryon Gustafson  to come and speak to us about the ministry of Child Bridge. During that meeting, he gave our GHAMA group the option to "own" Havre's Child Bridge ministry. In other words, instead of a team coming up from Great Falls to provide the meal and provide child care/ministry, the churches in the GHAMA group would unite and provide those elements. The regional office in Great Falls would send us the instructors for each meeting. Our GHAMA group agreed to those terms. Child Bridge met monthly in Havre with adoptive families and foster parents until the pandemic hit Montana hard in mid-March of 2020. Since that time, Child Bridge has been providing help digitally. 

Now Child Bridge would like to again establish a physical presence right here in Havre, Montana. At upcoming GHAMA meeting on Thursday, Oct. 7, our special guest will be the new Great Falls area Child Bridge director, Andrew Morrow. Andrew is going to confirm with our churches our upcoming plans to re-establish Child Bridge here in Havre. With all of this "on the table," I think it is a great idea to again let you know what Child Bridge is all about.

What is Child Bridge, you ask? Well, in a nutshell:

Child Bridge's Mission is to find and equip foster and adoptive families for Montana children who have been victims of abuse or neglect. This mission fits with the scriptures:

Psalm 68:5-6 - "For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song.

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families,[c]

he leads out the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."

  "Montana children who have been victims of abuse or neglect may not be technically or literally 'fatherless,' but their parents are definitely not present in the ways that parents should be present in their lives. CPS - Child Placement Services - does their best to place these children in foster or adoptive families - a monumental task that cannot be and should not be done by CPS alone. Child Bridge comes alongside CPS and focuses on equipping foster and adoptive parents to better provide safe, loving families with safe, loving parenting - with no abuse and no neglect. So many times, these abused and/or neglected children come into their foster or adoptive families with trauma. These foster and adoptive parents and families need extra equipping and training to more effectively deal with the trauma these children face. How does Child Bridge do this? That is revealed in their core values:

Child Bridge Core Values: "As a faith-based organization focused on finding and equipping foster and adoptive families, our approach has proven unique and effective. Following the successful recruitment and preparation of foster and adoptive families, Child Bridge provides support, advocacy, and resources for them as they obtain a foster care license and prepares them to provide the best care possible for children. To meet the special needs of foster and adopted children, Child Bridge provides families with Resource Groups, Focus Groups, education, training and special assistance as needs arise, free of charge.

"Child Bridge has a board of directors that is made up of community business and child welfare leaders, and has a small operations staff that oversees programs, mission advancement, finance and operations. To date, the organization is funded 100% by donations and receives no state or federal funding for its work."

It is GHAMA's hope and prayer that we will again be able to establish a Child Bridge presence here in Havre so that adoptive and foster families can be further resourced with valuable training and help in taking care of children needing help in our area. Once we have our meeting on Oct. 7th, look for a religious article update in this newspaper Friday, Oct. 15. Blessings!

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Written by the Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis; president of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association, Northern Montana Care Center chaplain and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church; wWith quotes found at the website http://www.ChildBridgemontana.org .