december news
✨2025 Reflections ✨
As our Safe Families Plus team looked back together on this past year, we were filled with gratitude for the beautiful relationships, growth, and impact we witnessed within our PLUS family. From the highs to the lows, 2025 was truly a year of connection, care, and growth.
We wanted to take a moment to share with you some of our highlights:
In 2025, we provided support to 30 young people navigating foster care, many of whom were connected to a trusted mentor they can turn to for support.
We celebrated many mentees meeting their goals, including securing jobs, finding housing, and building independent life skills.
We were especially thrilled to celebrate the reunification of a long-term mentor/mentee match after the mentee had relocated and then returned to Chicago this year.
Several young people were connected with a mentor as they approached turning 21, providing them with a trusted relationship to support them as they transitioned out of foster care and into independent living.
It was meaningful this year to see our mentors and mentees find deeper connection as they discovered shared interests, whether that was a love of movies, trying new foods, or going on walks together.
We witnessed mentoring relationships develop resiliency, trust, and strength as they navigated some challenging situations or misunderstandings.
We have been grateful to grow relationships with churches and organizations that help strengthen our program and surround our young people with greater support and resources.
It has been sweet to grow as a staff team, learning more about one another, deepening our connection, and seeing the fruit of working together through everyone’s strengths.
✨Holiday party✨
We had a blast at our Holiday Party! We shared a meal, enjoyed a photo booth, played games, and spent meaningful time getting to know one another even more.
Our mentees were able to go home with suitcases, food, and toiletries thanks to the generosity of Lou Malnati’s, who donated pizza and pasta, and Calvary Baptist Church, who provided the luggage and toiletries.
We also want to give a special shout-out to Northwest Community Church for their generous hospitality in hosting the party and making it possible for us to all be together.
It was a true joy to spend time with the incredible young people in our program and to see the sense of connection and belonging that continues to grow within our community.
✨why our mentors matter✨
The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health posted a research article titled “The Relationship between Sense of Belonging and Well-Being Outcomes in Emerging Adults with Care Experience.” The study looks directly at the impact meaningful relationships have on young people who have experience in the foster care system, and what it reveals is really powerful!
When a young person feels a genuine sense of belonging, it strengthens their resiliency, nurtures their mental health, and enriches their overall life satisfaction and well-being. Belonging helps them believe, sometimes for the first time, that they matter.
It also invites us to reflect: How can we be intentional about creating places of belonging for our mentees? What might that look like in the small moments you share, the trust you build, and the steady presence you offer?
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Having a sense of belonging, adequate social resources, and connection to a community has been linked with positive transitions into adulthood. Belonging is defined as a fundamental human need encompassing lasting, stable, and predominantly positive interpersonal relationships. A sense of belonging is an important protective factor for emerging adults and contributes to coping with stress, positive adjustment while transitioning to adulthood, and better overall outcomes. The absence of belonging is, thus, associated with negative outcomes, including poor mental health and lower resilience… Previous studies have also shown evidence of poor mental health, lower life satisfaction, insecure attachment, and less resilience among young adults with care experience due to their limited social connections.
We are so grateful to witness the beauty that emerges from these mentor-mentee relationships, knowing the deep, long-term impact it has.
If you’re interested, you can read the full article here.