My wife is an Addictions Nurse and I’m a parish minister with experience of prison chaplaincy and involved in recovery groups. Together we are triple adoptive parents with three adult care experienced children. A key component of mission is having a heart for the people we are seeking to reach and my wife and I have a heart for those whose life experiences have been so traumatic that they needed the intervention of care services which can add further trauma.
As one of the Home For Good Volunteers I visited Guilds to talk about children who go into care at a rate of one every fifteen minutes, with a large percentage ending up using drugs, becoming homeless or being imprisoned. The Guild amazingly raised over £100,000 for Home For Good! Within my talks I would mention that Scotland made a Promise in 2020 to all care experienced children that they would grow up Loved, Safe and Respected. It seemed to me that local churches should be involved, and I began picturing what a local church could do. A lovely retired Social Worker donated £10,000 to our church together with a challenge, to actually do something! SPaCE26 was the result. It aligns with The Promise and is created to engage with local Care Experienced adults 26 years plus who often have children whilst contending with significant traumas and complexities.
Eight SPaCE26 volunteers are being trained by Safe Families/Home For Good to befriend vulnerable families. We have approval from Presbytery to appoint a SPaCE26 Mission Facilitator to work between the Church and the local community. Recognising that £10,000 doesn’t go far in salary, my wife and I are organising a fundraising Bike Ride from St Columba’s foster home in Donegal, across the sea to Campbelltown and onwards to the Black Isle where we began fostering 30 years ago.
But how does SPaCE26 help people?
I have permission to share Mandy’s story. Mandy is a woman who went into care at the age of 12. The traumas before and after that intervention were deep. Mandy dealt with the pain by turning to drugs and faced what recovery literature describes as “jails, institutions and death”. Mandy attends recovery meetings and is a part of SPaCE26, She enjoyed volunteering at church and coming to the church. Mandy is now going into a Treatment Centre outside of Edinburgh. She gets a home day each week – a Sunday. Someone from SPaCE26 will pick her up at the Treatment Centre, bring her to church, ensure she is fed and gets to see her family, and gets back on time! SPaCE26 is equipped to help people with life skills, signpost to recovery, over friendship and belonging. One care experienced supporter is a qualified psychotherapist who has now emigrated but left the contents of his house for SPaCE26 to distribute to those in need. The need is great but the most testing part, both personally and vocationally is trusting God to provide. Andrew’s question to Jesus about the adequacy of their resources in John 6v9 is often how I feel, 9 ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’ The literal translation of “how far will they go” is, “what is this?” which in Hebrew is “Manna!” What we have already is enough for the journey when its put in His hands!
By Rev Sam Torrens
