We started The Sparrow Fund about 10 years ago with a desire to encourage and support families growing their family through adoption. We did that exclusively by offering grants to families adopting internationally to cover the cost to enroll in programs that would give them medical reviews of child referrals and counsel them through the referral process. The grants allowed us to meet a real need for families who might not have received this type of support otherwise.
What started small started to grow. We started offering training and connecting opportunities for foster and adoptive families including a marriage retreat Together Called which has become a community more than an event. We started serving in orphanages with the primarily goal of building relationships and helping both children and staff more deeply experience relationships.
As our team grew in 2017, it was the right time to pause and ask if all we were doing reflected who we are and where we believe we should be. As we considered the grant program and our retreats and trainings both here and in China, the words caring for caregivers were imprinted on our hearts. That’s what we want to be about. While the 101 grants we gave to families absolutely met a need and did real good for children and families, our team agreed that we could do a better job aligning our grants with the vision of caring for caregivers.
We reimagined our grants and started our Sparrow Services Grant program in January 2018. Since then, we have brought 49 families into the program. We still help families access specialized medical professionals who will review their referral with them. But, we offer our Sparrow Services families more than just that. We walk with them; cheer them on; offer individualized support including but not limited to marriage support, a supplemental referral review from a narrative/relational lens, coaching to line up resources they may need once home, and personalized suggestions for building attachment. We commit to offering them pursuing care until they have been home with their child for a full year, no matter how long that may take. There’s no itemized list of all that a Sparrow Services Grants includes because we don’t want there to be a list. Lists feel too impersonal and limiting. We want to care for caregivers and help them in their becoming the caregivers they want to be.
We have two open application windows annually–January through the end of March and June through the end of September. And, as of January 1, 2022, the application is fully online!