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| AZAFAP Mission Statement
The Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents is a non-profit,
statewide organization that serves families who adopt children and provide
foster and kinship care.
Working in partnership with child welfare professionals and the community,
our purpose is to support, educate, empower and provide a voice for
Arizona’s foster and adoptive families, with the goal of increasing the
well-being and stability of Arizona’s most vulnerable children. |
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About
AZAFAP
The Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents was founded in 2003
to support, empower and provide a unified voice for Arizona’s foster,
adoptive and kinship parents.
Over the years we have enjoyed many successes:
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Our
bi-monthly Town Hall series provides license renewal training credits
while covering topics of interest to foster, adoptive and kinship
parents such as tax tips for foster and adoptive parents, education
issues for foster and adopted children, grief and loss for foster
families, and pointers on how to navigate the various state systems
involved in child welfare. |
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Our
quarterly “Discussions with the Director” provide an opportunity for
foster and adoptive parents to provide input to the Arizona Department
of Economic Security in a two-hour discussion with the director of DES
that is broadcast statewide. |
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Our
annual Blue Ribbon event in May attracts more than 500 foster and
adoptive families, CPS workers and licensing workers to recognize the
nearly 10,000 children in the Arizona foster care system using blue
ribbons and the families that care for them. |
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Established long term collaborative relationships with both local and
national partners such as Arizona Friends of Foster Children, Casey
Family Programs, and Major League Baseball! |
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The
annual “Courage for Children” Awards dinner that honors foster and
adoptive families for their loving care of children in Arizona’s foster
care system. |
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Founder and President, Kris Jacober
 Kris
Jacober is the founder and president of the Arizona Association for Foster
and Adoptive Parents. Kris and her husband Joe and their three children have
been a licensed foster family for more than seven years. Kris is a
communications professional with more than 30 years experience in writing,
media relations, special events, internal and external communications and
Association management. Her experience includes non-profit, corporate and
government communications work. She was previously the writer and editor
for “Arizona Statewide,” the Arizona newsletter for foster and adoptive
parents. She is currently communications specialist for Arizona’s Children
Association.
Kris currently serves as
co-chair of the logistics committee for the annual state faith summit, member of the
Community Adoptions Committee and the SET Committee for DES/ACYF District 1
and member of the Child Welfare Committee for the Children’s Action
Alliance. She was previously co-chair for the Governor’s Reform Committee
in the area of Retention and Recruitment of Foster Families.
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