About Fostering Our Future

Who We Are

Fostering Our Future at Grace Landing (FOF) is a community-based, faith-led partnership working to solve Florida’s foster care crisis by increasing the number of high-quality foster families and by working with families in crisis to safely reduce the number of children who enter foster care.

Our Mission

Changing the way we care for vulnerable children and families by connecting and empowering communities to help families thrive. By working together, we can accomplish our goal of giving every child a family and every family the support they deserve.

Our Method

There are over 20,500 foster children in Florida alone, and 27% have been in care for over two years. These figures are a staggering representation of Florida’s foster care crisis, and articulate the need to develop high-quality foster care and increased capacity for children in our communities who need a safe place to call home.

High-Quality Foster Care

We help mobilize, organize, and equip local churches to care for vulnerable foster children as a compassion ministry of the church. We provide ministry team leaders with the training, tools, and resources they need to recruit, train, and support foster families within their congregation. We also help them establish foster care support teams, provide annual parenting and family seminars, as well as ministry-held events specifically for foster families and their support teams.

Foster Care Prevention

We address foster care challenges at the root by bringing vulnerable families from crisis to stability and on to thriving. We advocate for vulnerable families by connecting them with local service providers and walking with them through the process of building their families back to stability. Our goal is to keep families together and their children out of the foster care system whenever safely possible.

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WE ARE FAITH-BASED

The values of Fostering Our Future at Grace Landing are based on historical Christian faith and beliefs. We are motivated by Christian compassion to serve our neighbors.


Jesus said...,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"[a]; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b]
- Luke 19:25-37

Core Values

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SACRIFICE

Focusing to keep God first and to serve children and families in every aspect of our work, without thought to self.

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PERSEVERANCE

Remaining resolute and steadfast in our efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of the children and families we serve, and never giving up.

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INTEGRITY

Adhering to the highest ethical standards so everything we do and say will be above reproach.

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COMPASSION

Understanding the struggles of the children we serve and keeping them front and center as the motivation behind all our efforts.

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EXCELLENCE

Providing quality service and care in every phase of this ministry, with God as our standard.

Our History

Grace Landing opened in April 2010 in Central Florida as an independent living transition home for aged-out foster youth and homeless boys, and began serving boys aged 18-23. In 2016, due to the sustained overwhelming need for safe homes for youth, the Fostering Our Future initiative was launched to help meet the need for high-quality foster families by recruiting, licensing, and supporting foster families as a ministry of local churches. In 2023, this initiative expanded to include 100% online state- and DCF-approved pre-license training, as well as foster care prevention services through our Florida Project 100.

Our Team

florida

Julie Stephenson

Executive Director of Training & CRP

Robyn Frank

Director of Business Operations

Stephanie Day

Support Coordinator

Joelle Pittman

Recruitment & Support Coordinator

Kevin Strite

Vice President

Georgia

Bill Hancock

President

Texas

Juda Kunze

CO-Director FOF Texas operations

Ken Kunze

CO-Director FOF Texas operations

Consultants

Fostering Our Future at Grace Landing works with a team of seasoned child welfare professionals who are active within our communities with CWP/CWCM & CWPI Florida Certifications.

Legal Support

We utilize some of the finest attorneys within our communities to assist with advocacy and training.

High-quality foster care and foster care prevention

Simplifying foster care and supporting families in crisis.