Once, extended families lived together, neighbors looked after each other, and the “safety net” referred to people, not governments.
Today, for many families, those support systems have crumbled.
The nonprofit Better Together has glued them back together and created an innovative, community-based approach to preventing child neglect, guiding parents in distress, and—most critically—keeping families together. Through mentoring, job assistance, and voluntary child placement, parents can stabilize their families well before law enforcement, courts, and the foster care system are called to intervene. The approach is simple: Parents volunteer to get help, community members volunteer to give help, and Better Together’s professionally trained staff ensures everyone is laser-focused on the children. The organization is supported entirely through private donations, and host parents receive no financial compensation. They open their homes simply because they know: It takes a village to raise a child.
Based in Naples, FL Better Together’s Better Families program serves residents throughout Southwest, Florida while its Better Jobs program is quickly spreading throughout the nation, thanks to a network of Churches. Together, the two initiatives provide a powerful platform for parents ready to enact positive change and committed to providing a loving, safe, and supportive foundation for their children.
