ORLANDO — The recent school shootings in Columbine, Co., and Conyers, Ga., have rekindled discussion about prayer in schools and the separation of church and state.

Yet, while those discussions are taking place, officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) are asking faith-based organizations to help with the current shortage of shelters for abused and neglected children, and the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce wants churches to help it move people from welfare rolls into the workforce.

Representatives from DCF, the Chamber and several Orlando churches and ministries, met July 14 at DCF’s invitation to discuss ideas for relieving the current shortage in short-term shelters. Sheri Rader, president of Cherish the Child, a child-abuse recovery ministry of First United Methodist Church, St. Cloud, was among them.

According to To-Lan Trinh-Le, a finance and accounting director with DCF’s District 7 office, DCF is experiencing a critical shortage of short-term homes for children removed from their families because of suspected abuse or neglect. She said the department is moving as many as 50 children per day out of their homes. The kids are generally between 5 and 16 years old and need shelter for three to five days.

Lee Johnson, acting district administrator for District 7, which includes Orange, Osceola, Brevard and Seminole counties, says DCF is also "in crisis" with its foster care shelters.

"We’re not able to develop foster and shelter homes as quickly as in the past," he said. "We need homes that will provide love to children that have been neglected and abused. What better place to look than in the faith community?"

District 7 currently has 437 foster homes, many of which are at or over capacity, according to Yvonne C. T. Vassel, DCF’s public information officer. She said the department is going to need 800 homes by the end of the year.

Vassel says she believes part of the problem is that churches have disconnected themselves from caring for people, especially children, and left it to the government. Now, government agencies are overwhelmed.

"We can’t do it alone as a government agency," she said. "We’ve reached a breaking point where a government entity can only do so much. The faith-based communities must band together if we’re going to have something good."

Johnson said he believes the government and churches can collaborate in a way that does not jeopardize church and state separation. He says DCF is already involved with Orlando-area African-American churches in an adoption initiative called "One Church, One Child."

Johnson hopes churches will help now by spreading the word about the department’s housing needs for children. Although DCF does not have the resources to hire a full-time liaison that would work with the faith community, he said members of the staff would be willing to meet with area pastors, attend local and regional denominational meetings, or visit worship services.

"In our modern-day society with folks having less time to look at the media, the one thing that’s a focal point in citizens’ lives is the faith-based community," he said. The faith community has better access than we do, and it’s a real good way [for churches] to meet the social ministry…to help and work with the kids."

The government is not the only group that has begun to ask faith groups for help. The Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce is asking churches and businesses to work together to help people on welfare find jobs through a new program called the Florida Jobs Partnership, according to Marc Stanakis, the Chamber’s vice president of faith-based organizations.

The 1996 Welfare Reform Act has put approximately 3,500 of Orlando’s former welfare recipients into the community looking for jobs in a market that has a 3.1 percent unemployment rate, according to the City of Orlando Planning and Development Department.

Through a state grant, the Chamber instituted Workforce 2020, a welfare-to-work program that trains and encourages businesses to look for employees in non-traditional places, including the welfare rolls, according to Stanakis.

He said one problem the program quickly identified was that many welfare recipients are unemployed and underemployed people who "needed help dealing with the personal barriers that prevent them from breaking the cycle of dependency and failure."

"Who’s responsible for helping them work through those issues? It’s not the government’s job. It’s not business’ job. It’s the role of the church," he said.

Stanakis said he was introduced to Job’s Partnership, a church-led course for people who want to get a job or get a better job, at the National Summit on Churches and Welfare Reform.

The 12-week program includes two tracks that run simultaneously. The "Keys Curriculum" teaches Biblically-based work disciplines, including building relationships, stewardship and conflict resolution. The "Steps Curriculum" teaches practical applications of those disciplines.

To qualify for the program, a person must be recommended by the pastor of a church, but does not need to be a member of a church, nor are churches allowed to require membership or attendance, according to Stanakis.

The participant is then assigned a mentor from within the church who will go through the training with the participant, providing assistance as needed. When the course is completed, the participant takes a skills assessment test and is matched to job opportunities provided by participating businesses.

The jobs available are entry-level positions, but they must provide a livable wage, benefits and the opportunity for advancement within the company. The business is responsible for assigning a workplace mentor to help the participant assess his progress and work through any problems.

"The success of the program comes from the mentorship relationship that happens at the church and the job site," Stanakis said, adding the involvement of the pastor in the process is particularly important.

"The pastor has the ability to pour into the life of the participant and hold them accountable for success in terms of moving from dependency to self-sufficiency," he said.

Currently, 25 churches and 10 businesses have agreed to work with a pilot class that begins Aug. 16 in Orlando’s Pine Hills area. Another four communities are discussing the possibility of beginning classes locally.

Both the Department of Children and Families and the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce are able to ask churches for help as a result of the "Charitable Choice" rules included in the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.