Our Team

Our amazing volunteers bring the Safe Families movement to life in the community, guided by a devoted staff pouring their hearts into supporting isolated families, training and vetting volunteers, and partnering with local agencies to help keep families together!

Our Volunteers

The heart and soul of Safe Families for Children are our volunteers! By opening their hearts and homes to host children and support families, volunteers live out our core values of radical hospitality, disruptive generosity, and intentional compassion. We are fueled by an incredible army of dedicated volunteers, and happily welcome you to join our team! Volunteers serve a variety of roles from hosting children for a temporary period of time to providing services such as transportation, parent mentoring, respite care, and supplying tangible items such as diapers, car seats, and meals.

Our Staff

Russ Hightower

Chapter Director

Russ serves as the Chapter Director for the KC Metro region, joining Safe Families for Children in March 2021. He began his work in Intake, Church & Community Engagement, and Family Coaching—roles that brought together his deep compassion for families and his desire to see children safe and parents supported.

A graduate of Kansas State University, Russ spent much of his career in Corporate Human Resources before transitioning into roles that shaped his heart for this ministry: middle school educator, behavioral interventionist, and foster/adoptive parent. These experiences gave him a firsthand understanding of the challenges families face and the power of community support.

Russ and his wife, Tiffany, live in Shawnee and are parents to two young adults they adopted from foster care—and now proud grandparents. They attend Westside Family Church in Lenexa, where they helped launch and grow a thriving foster and adoption ministry.

Russ’s “happy place” is the kitchen, where he loves cooking for others and creating space for connection. Known for his compassion and sense of humor, he brings joy and encouragement everywhere he goes. One of his favorite scriptures is Colossians 3:12, a reminder to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

Grant Roesner

Community & Church Engagement Coordinator

Grant serves as the Church & Community Engagement Coordinator for the KC Metro Chapter. Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, Grant is a graduate of Baker University in Baldwin City, where he competed on the cross-country and track teams. His background in athletics reflects his steady commitment, teamwork, and perseverance—qualities he now brings into ministry.

Grant has a deep passion for helping churches discover meaningful ways to support vulnerable children and families. His heart for ministry and community engagement drives him to build strong partnerships, mobilize volunteers, and create pathways for people to live out the love of Christ in practical, relational ways.

He is committed to being a source of hope, healing, and tangible support for those in need, and he counts it a privilege to walk alongside churches and volunteers who help keep children safe and families together.

Heather Northrop

Family Coach

Heather serves as a Family Coach for the Kansas City Metro Chapter, where she walks alongside parents and volunteers with compassion, wisdom, and a deep belief in the power of Christ-centered community.

Heather spent a decade overseas with YWAM, engaging unreached people groups in the Middle East. Her own childhood—growing up without a father and with an estranged mother—shaped her lifelong mission to cultivate a home that reflects the heart of God: a place of stability, love, and belonging. She considers this her highest calling, second only to her daily walk with the Lord.

While stateside, Heather’s professional journey led her into the public school system, working with preteens with behavioral needs, and later into fostering numerous youth through God’s providence. She carries a deep love for the local church and has served through women’s discipleship, small groups, and mentoring in community.

Heather and her husband of 26 years have two adult daughters and one cherished grandson. One of her favorite life lessons is, “I must have equal time on my knees as I do on my feet.” She treasures the global prayer movement and believes prayer—corporate or personal—is the most effective strategy for any Kingdom mission.

A scripture close to her heart is Jesus’s prayer in John 17:21:
“I pray for them all to be joined together as one … so that the world will recognize that You sent Me.”