Welcome to our new and updated internet site.  Our enhanced information manager will give us the opportunity to give you more up to date news on what's going on.  If this is your first visit, glad you're here!

Grace Children's Center gives children a positive experience of family life.  We love helping them to feel safe and to develop basic skills for living.  Research shows that the single most important variable in a child's development is whether or not they grow up in a loving, stable home. 

Its been 10 years since we bought the old Wonderwell Bed & Breakfast up on Philbrick Hill in Springfield, NH.  We spent a year renovating the property and then the first child came - a little girl who gave purpose to all the hard work so many had done.  She was the first of many who have come to live at the Home.  Today she is a new member of NH's National Guard and looking forward to heading to college to get a degree in Criminal Justice.

That is what Grace Children's Center is really all about!  We make use of the imagery of Champions here at the Home recognizing that each child is in training to become a Champion!  We believe that's what good families produce - Champions!  Champions overcome adversity in life to achieve their goals.  Our study of history has taught us that many if not most of our greatest leaders had very difficult beginnings.  These they overcame and their lives were marked by an inner strength resulting in the ability to persevere and succeed in life.

Over the years, we found ourselves being asked to serve on various committees with state government which we gladly did.  Recently, Keith was nominated by Gov. Lynch to the DCYF Advisory Committee which helps to shape state policy regarding foster care.  It is a great honor to serve in this way and to further the working together of state government and the faith community when it comes to foster care.  Our UShareNH Project has grown out of this partnership.  It is very exciting to see how that is developing!

Thanks for visiting our website.  There's lots of information about our history, goals, strategy and where we hope to be in 5 years.  Feel free to get in touch.  We've become a resource to many who have questions about foster care or who want to get involved.  We'd be glad to help however we can.

A new year is now upon us  which promises to be an adventure full of opportunities and challenges.  We've been looking forward to this year.  Now that it is here - Let's go!

We have already begun implementing a new initiative which we are calling our Vulnerable Family Assistance Program or VFAP which is a collaborative effort with other organizations to try and reduce the need for foster care in NH.  We are starting in Sullivan County which has the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the state.

We've set our new goal for 2009.  It represents almost a 20% increase over 2008.  We met our 2008 goals in the midst of a tough economy.  We believe we will be successful in 2009 as well.   It has never been our heart to shrink back in tough economic times.  These are days when many people are experiencing difficult times and social service agencies need new and innovative approaches.  Our UShare Project is gaining traction and helping to connect resources with needs at the local level.  Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas calls UShare "the kind of paradigm shift State government must embrace in light of our current economy."

Thank you for your interest and support as we head into our second decade of meeting the needs of NH's children in foster care and the families who support them!