Guest Commentary | Stand in the gap: Keeping families
We are growing. Our economy is strong. Yet in the middle of all this progress, too many families are hanging on by a thread.
A sudden job loss, a medical crisis, a child care barrier or a fight against addiction can quickly overwhelm a parent who has no support system.
When families face hardship without anyone to turn to, children can end up in foster care, not because of abuse but because life became too heavy and help arrived too late.
Nearly half of foster care cases involve neglect connected to poverty, isolation or temporary crisis. These parents love their children. What they need is support, guidance and community. Foster care is a safety net, but it should always be the last resort. When we step in early as neighbors, we help families stay together and prevent unnecessary trauma for children.
There was a time when neighbors automatically stepped in. Churches mobilized. Community groups showed up. We did not outsource compassion or responsibility. Yet across the United States, volunteerism has been declining. Fewer people feel connected to their community. Fewer feel personally responsible for the well-being of families who live on their street or attend their church. When we lose that shared sense of responsibility, families fall through the cracks and government systems are left to carry burdens they were never built to carry alone.
This work is not about politics or programs. It is about neighbors helping neighbors before crisis becomes tragedy.
Better Together exists to restore that community support and prevent foster care by strengthening families early. We are a privately funded nonprofit that equips parents to navigate crisis, secure employment, build stability and remain safely together with their children. Our volunteers are at the heart of this work. They step in not to rescue, but to empower parents with dignity and encouragement.
When a parent needs time to stabilize, our volunteer host families open their homes so children can stay safe short term. Our mentors walk with parents as they work toward goals, secure housing and access needed resources. Because more than 70% of families come to us facing unemployment or financial instability, our workforce ministry partners with churches to host job fairs and connect job seekers with employment. We believe meaningful work builds dignity and strengthens families.
Over the past decade, more than 15,000 children have been cared for through Better Together. More than 46,000 job seekers have connected to work through church hosted job fairs. Families have stayed together. Hope has taken root. Communities have stepped up in powerful ways.
But the need is growing, and we are committed to reaching families before crisis becomes separation. To serve the families who reach out, we need 200 new host families and 250 new mentors statewide. Without additional volunteers, more than 1,100 children and 465 parents could face crisis alone in the next year.
Volunteering with Better Together is flexible and relationship based. You choose how you serve and when you say yes. Some volunteers host children for a short period of time. Others mentor parents, provide meals or offer rides. Every act of service matters. Every hour changes a story. Every yes strengthens a family.
For people of faith, this is a chance to live out your calling in a tangible way. For parents, it is an opportunity to model service and compassion for your own children. For young professionals, retirees and anyone searching for purpose and impact, this is a meaningful way to pour into your community.
Our mission is simple. Every child deserves to grow up safe and loved. Every parent deserves the chance to get back on their feet with support and dignity. Every community is stronger when neighbors step in for one another.
Florida can lead the nation by showing what happens when communities take responsibility for keeping families together before foster care is ever needed. A stronger future begins with each of us choosing to act.
We are ready. Families are waiting. Your heart and your willingness can help keep a family together.
Join us. Stand in the gap. Be the steady hand that helps a parent rise and a child remain home.
To learn more or to get involved, visit BetterTogetherUS.org or call 239-470-2733.
Megan Rose is the CEO of Better Together, a nonprofit that helps parents in crisis address the root causes of their struggle, find work and keep their children out of foster care.