Our Family Connection Training Program

Family Connection is a program that Holly Madden and Christie Love developed while they planted and led The Connecting Grounds Church in Springfield, MO. The program's goal is to help build a trauma-informed bridge between the foster care system and communities of faith. Aspects of the program include:

  • Learning about the historical role that faith communities have played in developing the foster care system.

  • Debunking myths about families involved in the foster care system.

  • Understanding the role that trauma plays in family separation and how religious trauma can be present in many family situations.

  • Receiving training for how to steward space in church buildings to welcome separated families to have a place for weekly supervised visits that are supportive and home-like.

  • Learn how to develop a volunteer base and receive access to our volunteer training program to learn to supervise visits, engage with families, understand the foster care system, and help support the reunification efforts of families.

  • Learn to communicate with other social service organizations and build partnerships in your community.

Participants in this program not only receive the initial training to launch a Family Connection site at their church, but they also are connected to an ongoing cohort of site leaders who share resources, ideas, stories, and best practices to help one another in this critical work of supporting separated families on their reunification journies.

To participate in this training program and have access to our resource library, other training programs, quarterly classes, connection groups, and cohorts become a member of The Flipped Table Collective.

This program is led by Holly Madden, who has developed it from the ground up in Springfield, MO, where it first launched. She has been recognized for her passion and leadership for Family Connection by being named one of 2022’s 40 under 40 leaders in Springfield, MO. Holly has a Bachelor’s Degree in Ministry and Church Leadership and a Master’s Degree in Trauma Counseling.