BE INVOLVED

Volunteer

Family Crisis Center
This center houses and provides counseling groups for women and children in crises due to domestic violence. Volunteers are needed to answer the 24-hour crisis line, provide childcare during counseling sessions for mothers, and to assist staff in providing play therapy for children.
Great Starts/New Beginnings
Volunteers are needed to hold babies and play with children ages 6 weeks to 4 years old in our nursery/day care for children who have been exposed to drugs/alcohol and other high risk children. Childcare is needed some nights and weekends while the mothers are involved in treatment sessions.
Kids on the Block
Volunteers are needed in Knox, Sevier, Blount and other surrounding counties to serve as puppeteers to provide education to children regarding sensitive subjects such as divorce, AIDS, disability awareness, child abuse, bullying, etc. Volunteers must be able to learn the presentation script and puppetry techniques as well as commit to a presentation one time a week throughout the school year and/or summer.
To volunteer for Kids on the Block, please go here to fill out an online form.
LakeBrook Academy
Volunteers are needed for:
Tutoring assistance and assistance with homework through our accredited school for teenagers who cannot attend public schools. We help young people connect and engage in learning in ways that will help them to become capable and self-sufficient adults. Our accredited school helps youth become re-integrated into community life, return home to live with families or on to adoption and permanent family placement or independent living.
Dear Santa
Dear Santa volunteers (in operation from late November to mid-December. Exact dates are TBD.) answer children's wishes for the holiday season.
Santa's Helpers shop in order to fulfill children's holiday wishes. Wishes are received by a letter which details their wishes and needs as well as sizes of items requested, the number of children in the family and other details which help make granting wishes easy. Gifts are delivered to Child & Family Tennessee for delivery to families before the Holidays.
To volunteer for Dear Santa, please go here to fill out an online form.
Interested in other volunteer opportunities? Please fill out an online volunteer interest form here.

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Wish List

You can help a new mother, a struggling father, a frightened youth or a woman seeking safe shelter feel more welcomed by your donation! Here is just a sample list of things we can always use:
Two 12-passenger vans and two 7-passenger vans
dining room tables and chairs
beds (single or double size)
sofas and/or love seats
end tables
dressers and/or chest of drawers
night stands
televisions
carpeting
landscaping materials
gutters
chairs
bathtubs
vanities
Toiletries and other personal hygiene items (toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, soap, especially travel and small sizes) for women and children in emergency shelter
Sheets (single, double), towels (all sizes), washcloths for youth and families in our supported housing
Games, toys and books for all ages used across all programs
Newborn and infant items (bottles, rattles, diapers, burp cloths, etc.) for children in our nursery and shelter programs
Gift cards--all kinds (Target, WalMart, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Kroger, Food City) for all programs. Used for one-time emergencies, birthdays/special occasions, special incentives and so forth.
The list above is only a sample of the things we're looking for! If you think you have something to donate that isn''t on the list above contact us at 865-524-7483.

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Advocate

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." --Jane Howard
We urgently need our families to be strong so that our communities thrive and our nation can prosper. However, families today face unprecedented challenges. One in five children live in poverty in the United States. In 2008, 40% of births in this country were to unmarried mothers. The recent rise in unemployment and slow return of jobs to our economy only add to the already daunting conditions in which many families find themselves.
At Child & Family Tennessee, we work each day to fulfill our mission to strengthen families. We work to heal addictions, to provide safety from family violence, to support youth in becoming successful adults. But more than mental health and social services are needed. Public policy must also focus on the needs of families. Families need safe and affordable housing, the ability to work in living wage jobs, safe childcare and good schools. You can help by keeping informed of laws and other changes which impact children and families and by expressing your views.

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Internships

Child & Family Tennessee can help train motivated students who are dedicated to making a change to our community. We are currently offering internships through the programs below (all located under our "Services" menu):
Therapy Center and Connections In-Home Program can accept second year Master's level interns.
Connections In-Home Program and Great Starts/New Beginnings can accept Bachelor's level and/or first or second year Master's level interns.
Family Crisis Center, Runaway Shelter and PleasanTree Apartments can accept Bachelor's level interns.
If any of these programs seem to fit your interest, please fill out the online form:
Apply for volunteer/internship at Child & Family Tennessee.

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Foster

"I know why families were created with all their imperfections. They humanize you. They are made to make you forget yourself occasionally, so that the beautiful balance of life is not destroyed." --Anais Nin
Foster families are sometimes the only stable influence in the lives of some of the children we serve, and can make all the difference in the life of a child. Unfortunately, many East Tennessee children are waiting for a loving home to welcome them. Child & Family Tennessee is urgently seeking loving foster homes to provide both full-time and respite care for our children. There are many ways to help, including overnight or weekend relief for a full-time foster parent. Foster families come in all shapes and sizes and do not work alone. Child & Family Tennessee is there to support you every step of the way.
Foster Parent Requirements:
Must be 25 years of age
Must be financially and emotionally stable
Must be willing to attend 45 hours of training before having a foster child placed with them
Must be willing to attend 15 hours of in-service training annually
Must be willing to open your home and heart to a child
Foster Parent Receives:
A generous board and service compensation, geared to the child's need
Flexible training and individual instruction
Two weekends respite care per month as needed
Allowance and clothing allotment for each child
Funds for involvement in community or developmental activities
Prompt 24-hour crisis support from professional staff
Individual and family counseling
Foster Family Peer Support activities, such as focus groups, for foster families and regular meetings with agency management teams
Foster opportunities are available with mostly school-aged children (ages 5 or older). There is especially a need for foster parents for ages 12 and older. Those who are interested in offering a teen a forever home, can also check into adoption. Here is a list of the top reasons to foster or adopt a teen.
There is no cost to find out more and no obligation if you call. For more information, please call 865-524-7483.

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Mentor

"The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people -- no mere father and mother -- as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born." -- Pearl S. Buck
Many of the children that Child & Family Tennessee serves have no consistent support or role model in their lives. By becoming a mentor, you could help a child by becoming a constant in their lives. The children involved with Child & Family Tennessee usually have little or no positive influences in their lives, and the mentor becomes a person who they can look up to when they have no one else. Our children & youth programs work with our kids to match them with a mentor, so please contact us at 865-524-7483!

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Donate

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future." --Alex Haley
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."--Anthony Brandt
Our work here at Child & Family Tennessee is made possible by all the support we receive from our community. Since 1929, we have been the solution of choice for children and families in East Tennessee.
At Child & Family, we know how to put your contribution to effective and efficient use. First of all, our organization is efficient. We utilize proven effective interventions so that neither time, money nor opportunity is wasted. We measure our results and continuously use that information to improve our efforts, and thus our outcomes. While we offer safety and aid emergent needs, we also focus our efforts to root causes and lasting change.
We also know how to leverage resources. We can often take 10 cents from a private donation and produce a dollar's worth of impact through our ability to find matching grants and other funding to leverage partial resources, including those of our partners and collaborators. Our donors know that their contribution is being compounded by other funding for maximum effect. Please give so that the families and children we serve will continue to find the help they need, when they need it. A gift of any amount will help us with our work. The button to the left is available for your convenience and it's secure with PayPal.

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