Florida Faith Leaders Hear Update on CarePortal’s Impact

The Governor’s Faith & Community Initiative’s September Zoom call on the 17th featured an update from Joe Knittig, CEO of CarePortal. The discussion centered on the progress Florida has made in serving vulnerable children and families through the faith-driven platform.

CarePortal, a ministry of the Global Orphan Project, connects local churches and community caregivers with the practical needs of children and families in crisis. Florida is unique in the nation in that it has partnered directly with CarePortal, reimagining the care infrastructure across the state as a collaboration of churches and community organizations.

Since implementation six years ago, the number of children in foster care in Florida has dropped by 37%—three times the national average. Knittig attributed this success to “relational equity.” Families served through CarePortal’s partners receive not only items like cribs and clothing, but also the support of meaningful relationships. Every point of impact, Knittig emphasized, has come from the community itself, not the state or CarePortal’s staff.

Knittig shared that his own difficult upbringing impressed on him the need to invest in children and to build communities where neighbors serve one another with grit and compassion. “Unity is not uniformity,” he said. “It is concerted effort.”

Already, more than 1,000 Florida churches are active responders through the CarePortal system. Knittig believes this effort has the potential to spark a “great disturbance about the Way.” Quoting Acts 19:23, he suggested that the witness of Christian love in cooperatively addressing the child welfare crisis could be felt so strongly that it reshapes culture from the bottom up.

Here in Brevard County, we are blessed to be part of a state that is leading the nation in putting the wellbeing of children and families at the center of its community vision. We should be praying for these efforts to continue, for more churches to step into the gap, and for God’s love to be shown in tangible ways to our most vulnerable neighbors.

If your church or community organization is interested in partnering with CarePortal, you can reach out to our local representative Tim Geil at 815-529-8893 or [email protected]. You can can also visit careportal.org to learn more.

— Christians of Brevard is a multi-church initiative that seeks to amplify the voices of local churches and ministries for the purpose of encouraging the local body of Christ and advancing the Kingdom of God. Join our Facebook community @ChristiansOfBrevard