Foster Care, Juvie, and Jesus
Why does a orphanage management company want to collect private data on struggling families in America and why are States paying them to do it?
In 2003, during a trip to Southeast Asia, Beth Fox recalls, “God pierced our hearts to make a difference with our life. We just surrendered our lives and said, ‘God, whatever you have in mind for us, we’re all in.'” She and her husband, Mike, returned to their home in the Kansas City area and a year later, The Global Orphan Project was born. The GO Project, as it’s known today, uses its $18.0 in revenue to “break the orphan cycle through the power of community, commerce and the love of Jesus.”
The GO Project provides orphanage services in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Malawi, South Sudan, and Uganda. But the GO Project leadership believed that “God wasn’t done..” when “He put it on their heart to address America’s orphans (read kids in foster care).”
In 2015, the Global Orphanage Project rolled out the CarePortal. The CarePortal allows government agencies and human service professionals to enter information about the needs of people who are receiving government assistance. Church members, charities and local businesses can respond to those needs. The CarePortal operates in over thirty (30) states and territories. They claim to have fulfilled 99, 320 requests for help, impacting 261,136 children.
The GO Project’s STATEMENT OF FAITH
The Lord is the leader of this ministry. GO Project is not affiliated with any particular denomination. However, we do exist and operate as an expression of Jesus Christ’s radical love in a fallen world. Our leaders are all passionate followers of Christ.
We believe the Holy Bible to be the inspired, complete Word of God. We adopt the Scriptures as our Statement of Faith – obviously better than what we could fairly summarize ourselves. James 1:27 states: “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” This verse captures the heart of our ministry.
We strive to be doers of the Word, not mere talkers.
The GO Project has been funded by very wealthy, Christian families and Christian “angel investors” like the Kingdom Giving Fund as well as government agencies. Longtime GO Project CEO, Joe Knittig, talks openly about his traumatic childhood and how critical it is for Christians to “invest in children in crisis.”
Casey DeSantis Goes All In
In 2020, the GO Project registered in Florida as a “foreign not-for-profit corporation.” A few months later, Casey DeSantis, wife of Governor Ron DeSantis announced Hope Florida. Hope Florida “serves as a connection point for community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits… to create a pathway for Floridians to live up to their God-given potential and accomplish the American Dream – ultimately achieving prosperity and economic self-sufficiency.”
The needs range from diapers to bunkbeds to extermination services. Joe Knittig sees the CarePortal as a way of addressing the “zip codes” that are the biggest feeders into foster care and prison. Knittig claims those zip codes are often “communities of color.” In his mind, “That is how we revere racial disproportionality in child welfare. That is how we take power out of centralized locations like Washington D.C.”
Originally, Hope Florida was open to the church ministry but in 2023, Casey DeSantis announced access to the portal would be broadened to include private for profit companies. Hope Florida has since expanded to include incarcerated youth and their families. Florida has a history of randomly paying $25,000+ to GO Project but on the heels of the DeSantis announcement, the State issued them $750,000 with on-going payments of $204,000.
According to Florida’s Division of Financial Services contract tracking system, contracts and/or purchases orders do not exist for the Global Orphanage Project, the GO Project or the CarePortal. In the world of government procurement, that’s a real problem. The GO Project is registered as a vendor for cloud and software products with the State of Florida’s electronic procurement system, however, between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2021, there is no evidence that the Department of Children and Families let a competitive bid nor is there evidence of an intent to sole source this project. This is not how a healthy government procurement process operates.
What’s The Big Deal?
The calls for help found on the CarePortal range from pest extermination services to roofing repairs to household items. Many of the requests would allow for or even require face-to-face interaction. Signing up does not require any kind of authentication or background screening and that’s a problem. One that could lead to tragedy for one or both parties involved.
From anywhere in the world, I can see that some woman is struggling with her mental health in Phoenix, Arizona. Specifically in the 85015 zip code. She’s single with two boys (7 and 12 years old) and she’s under the scrutiny of the Department of Child Safety. No log-in required. Does she know that the agency responsible for helping her is spreading her business across the world?
We can also see that Cynthia contributed $100 to pots and pans for a family. Janine from New Covenant United Methodist donated a high chair and Pam is praying for someone in Ohio. Given that their location and last names are right there, none of these people would be hard to find.
Of course, charity relies on the generosity and kindness of strangers. What’s new is now those strangers can directly access people whose severity of needs requires the help of a professional. Moreover, this is a troubling amount of information being exchanged with no guardrails to protect against criminals be they grifters or rapists.
How the CarePortal went from, in the founders words, “failing miserably,” to a twenty-five state growth spurt in 2020, is anyone’s guess. Why, at least Florida, seemingly sidestepped established procurement laws is also anyone’s guess. Those are big questions but they pale in comparison to the questions about data on vulnerable and unsuspecting people.
This Is Why Government Has Guidelines
For over a year now, to no avail, I’ve asked the agency heads of Children and Family Services and Juvenile Justice as well as Casey DeSantis herself a set of valid and troubling questions. If you are concerned about the privacy and confidentiality of vulnerable people, please ask your state if they have established boundaries for the CarePortal. For example;
What safety precautions are in place for people in need of help and the volunteers that offer help?
Are churches allowed to require the people they help to pray for salvation? Attend church? Tithe?
Once given access to families, can private businesses “assess” other needs and sell items or services to families
Can healthcare providers offer assistance and then recommend other services that are billable to Medicaid or Medicare, for example?
Can foster care providers identify additional services for which they can bill the state?
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY
Who owns the data and how can it be used? Are we really comfortable with nongovernmental organizations having limitless ownership of data that details which families are at risk of being separated and why they are at risk of being separated?
The Underbelly of Orphanage Operators
The GO Project operates orphanages all over the world including eighteen or so in Haiti. There is absolutely no evidence that the GO Project doesn’t run exceptional programs in America or abroad. Zero. But there’s a lot of evidence that the orphan industry is exceptionally harrowing.
“In Haiti, where half the population is under 25, there are few barriers to opening an orphanage, and fewer enforcement mechanisms for child welfare officials to hold accountable the people who operate them, leaving tens of thousands of kids caught in a sprawling system that annually draws more than $100 million from American and Canadian funders. The result, a BuzzFeed News investigation found, is a shadowy industry where kids routinely face abuse, exploitation, living standards that don’t meet state requirements, and sometimes death, while Westerners who fund, operate, or promote many orphanages face minimal oversight. Of the 576 orphanages child welfare officials assessed for its 2018 report, 307 were flagged for physical or sexual abuse, according to government documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. Since 2019, the state has closed four.” Read Karla Zabludovsky important investigative work.
More recently, on January 20, 2024, Hearts for Haiti founder, Michael Geilenfeld was arrested “after being indicted in Florida, accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti between 2010 and 2016 ‘for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person under 18.’ The charge he faces carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison in the event of a conviction.”
This is powerful piece, Heather. Good work