New Horizons – Aaron Blake

Aaron Blake has long been involved in the realm of caringfor children in the foster care system. He and his wife Mary were parents to manyfoster children. Blake has been working with the non-profit agency, NewHorizons, for almost twelve years looking for ways to provide a safe and lovinghome for foster children. Not only is he part of a team committed to connectingand finding foster families, he is Chairman of The Advisory Committee onPromoting Adoption of Minority Children and a member of CUAD, Citizens UnitedAgainst Disproportionality. The Advisory Committee is a group whose goal is to engagelocal churches and community groups across Texas in finding families for children. Forums are hosted to involve communities andencourage them to care for the children from their own community. CUAD wasestablished as part of an initiative started by Texas Child Protective Servicesto address disproportionality and disparities within Child Protective Servicesin Texas. {{more}}Disproportionality is the overrepresentation of a particular race,particularly African-Americans, in the foster care system and the disparitiesin treatment between races. The goal of CUAD is to make the community aware ofthe disparities affecting our children and what we as individuals must do to dispute the causes of these disparities and enddisproportionality in the systems. Blake’s states his most exciting venture is the faith-basedaspect of what he does every day. He speaks with church ministers and membersin an effort to find quality families for kids. By finding foster families inchurches, the church is able to provide an all-encompassing wrap around supportof the foster family emotionally, spiritually, and financially.