In the same way Nick Colarelli and his late wife, Margaret, encircled their five children with love, comfort, purpose and direction in life, the couple also created an innovative model for helping children in foster care feel the same kind of heart-felt affection from a network of church volunteers.
“It’s a different idea of what permanency means,” Colarelli said last week, while relaxing in the back yard of his Colorado Springs home.
Permanency under the government’s child protection system usually refers to kids either returning to their homes of origin or getting adopted.
But the Colarellis’ nonprofit organization, Fostering Hope, operates a unique approach they developed: creating for displaced children feelings of belonging and familial connection using vetted, trained volunteers from nearly 40 churches in town.