May is foster care awareness month so it’s the perfect time
to highlight some things that you should know about responding to orphans. Get
ready for an onslaught of posts from me this month because I am passionate
about this!
I’ve been talking with a bunch of different foster parents
about things that they wish other people knew and I’m excited to share some of
that with you in the coming weeks, but I don’t think I can discuss all of that
until we first address the WHY and the significant NEED in foster care.
So why?
Well, for me, it comes directly from James 1:27 which tells
us to care for orphans in their distress.
Caring for those who are most vulnerable is something that Christians
are called to do. It’s not easy, it’s not always rewarding, and it’s not always
fun, but it’s necessary.
Jason Johnson, a foster parent and advocate for orphans
says, “Foster kids need the church as much as the church needs foster kids. One
gets rescued from tragedy, the other awakened from complacency.”
Jesus talked a lot about children. Children matter to God,
and the pro-life movement of the evangelical church shouts that. But the
pro-life movement needs to continue beyond birth. If we as believers are going
to say that every life and every child matters to God, then we need to show our
faithfulness to that mission by responding to the significant need for orphan
care. Their lives matter in utero and their lives matter on earth, and there
are hundreds of thousands of children in the US who have been removed from
their homes because they are not being treated as if they matter.
Forgive me for doing no more than a quick google research,
but my “research” tells me that nearly 4 million children are aborted each year
in the US. That number is devastating. But you know what I’m equally devastated
about? That there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system that do
not have stability or permanency.
Guys, this is a crisis.
So if you live in my county, pick your feet up because I’m
about to step on your toes.
Here are the numbers: Spartanburg County has 315 children in
foster care. Do you want to know how many licensed homes there are? 98. And
guess how many churches are in our county? 600.
That is atrocious! If every church in our county had one
licensed foster family, then sibling groups wouldn’t be split up all over our
state. Children wouldn’t have to be removed from their school and friends at
the same time they are removed from their homes. ONE licensed family per church
in our county would mean that whole congregations could support, encourage,
take care of, and provide relief for the family that responded to the need. And
we would have plenty left over for respite and temporary care situations.
Not everyone can be foster parents. But a lot more people
can than think they can. I would say our family is living proof of that. Our
children are 4, 5, and 8. They go to school on the other side of our county at two different times of the day (L and Cooper are in half-day school). I live in the car. My
husband is a very very busy man. We participate in dance and sports and lead
community group at our house once a week. Our plate is FULL. But God told us to
do something so we got over comfort and said yes. That does not make us
superheroes. We are certainly not superheroes and I’ll talk more about that
later. Children in foster care are still in very unfortunate situations. But it has been said that foster care is
trying to find the “least bad situation” for a child. There are over 300 kids
in our county that just need a “least bad” situation. They need to be able to
stay in Spartanburg. They need to not be sleeping in a shelter. They need to
not be spending the night at DSS.
If you are not able to be a foster parent, there are still
lots of things you can do. You can support local ministries like PS I Love You
which is a wonderful organization that provides support to foster families in
Spartanburg County. You can be a licensed respite family that will take foster
kids for a week or weekend at a time so that the ones in the trenches can take
a break. You can provide babysitting services or diapers, clothes, and other
goods, or you can give gift cards so that a couple can have a date night. You
can be a prayer support who commits to pray specifically for a family or child.
You can check in with a foster family you know, ask how they are doing, make
them feel like they are not living on an island. You CAN be a part of the
orphan crisis without caring for a child 24/7.
Miracle Hill is working hard to raise awareness and get more
families licensed and next week there will be an informational meeting at The
Hangar at FBC Downtown to answer questions. If you have ever thought about it,
attend this meeting, ask your questions, learn more about the need and what we
can do about it.
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