At The Village Durham, our mission is to support family preservation by connecting parents in crisis to relationships and organizations in our community that can help. Parents navigating difficult circumstances may struggle to meet the needs of their children. Without the proper support, many children are removed and placed into foster homes. Ultimately, we believe in being the village necessary to sustain healthy futures for families in Durham.

The Village Durham runs a Family Advocate program where we train and equip individuals or groups to become Family Advocates and assign them to a family to care for. Each family will have different needs, but advocates may perform duties like meeting up for coffee, cooking a meal together, providing transportation to a doctor’s appointment, or doing research on the family’s behalf. Family advocates may also help families in the areas of job training, employment, housing, nutrition, mental health, parenting education, and more.