The $92,000,000 Question

Turns Out "It Takes a Village" Is a Successful Business Model

Imagine a single mom, three days from delivering her second child, with nowhere for her toddler to go. No family to call. No safety net. Just fear.

Now picture a neighbor or family from church stepping in, caring for the toddler, encouraging the mom, and welcoming her home after the birth. Together for Good recently welcomed its 1,000th child into exactly that kind of support network, proof that ordinary people, moving fast and without judgment, can rewrite a family's story before crisis becomes catastrophe.

The math is compelling. Keeping one child out of foster care saves an estimated $92,000 in annual public costs. Multiply that across 1,000 children and the savings run into the tens of millions.

Many of us recognize that nearly 60% of Americans are one missed paycheck away from homelessness. Fewer of us realize a cancer diagnosis, house fire, or job loss could be all that stands between a neighbor and having her children removed from her care.

Nine years ago, Maridel Sandberg founded Together for Good and implemented an upstream approach in Minnesota. She had raised three biological children and adopted five more, and each adoption began with a birth mom in crisis with no one to call. "I often wondered what if God's people had surrounded them with family-like care, so they could have been the mom God created them to be," she says. That question became a ministry, now expanded into Iowa and Texas, with three more states on the horizon.

When a mother experiences a breaking point, a house fire, a hospitalization, a baby due with no one to watch her toddler, a trained host family steps in for days, weeks, or months, while a case manager supports both sides. "Foster care is the F word," Maridel says. “a mother’s greatest fear is that CPS will take and put her child in foster care." Together for Good exists to provide an alternate path towards stability and success. No government intervention. No removal. Just a crisis off-ramp built on trust.

Quite simply, Together for Good connects those who need help with those who can help.

The projected savings of 1,000 children kept out of foster care could run close to $100 million, but the real return is harder to price. Children who cycle through foster care face steep odds: many end up homeless, incarcerated, or worse, and young girls are far more likely to repeat the cycle themselves.

Last year, your donations funded a $20,000 grant that helped Together for Good approve 72 new host families and 55 new advocates across its three regions: Minnesota, Texas, and Iowa. Story after story of lives diverted from tragedy, because of you.

Even as we celebrate 1,000 children impacted through Together for Good and you, we recognize there is still work ahead. Ninety-seven children are currently waiting for a host family, and every new city means recruiting more volunteers willing to open their homes.

Your support helped bring Together for Good to this milestone. Every additional host family helps keep a child out of foster care and saves up to an estimated $92,000 in public costs, while giving a family the chance to stay together. They’re counting on that same support to reach the 97 children waiting right now, and the next 903 after them.