“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV) Tweet When I think of having hope for the future, this picture of our family gathered around the dinner table is …
Foster Care Support
During my freshman year of college, I experienced for the first time the intense emotions provoked by saying the words, “pro-life.” While walking to class, I told my classmate about my new coworker, saying, “I don’t know much about him, but I know we’re both pro-life.” This innocent, perceptive statement opened the floodgates of emotion in …
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 Tweet As our family grew, we often found ourselves in uncharted waters, facing behaviors and situations we had never anticipated. As parents, we have …
As a mom to many, I often hear the phrase, “I just don’t know how you do it all!” My immediate response to those comments typically falls along the lines of, “Oh, believe me, I don’t. It takes teamwork as a family, and it takes a village!” For my husband and I, teamwork is essential. …
So you think you want to become a foster parent? Feeling called to foster care can be a profoundly fulfilling and joyous experience. You may have been inspired by a sermon, moved by statistics, or felt confident raising your biological children. Why not extend your love to a few more? The question may be, ‘Am …
When we think of a precious child, we should first start with a definition of the word. Precious translates from a Hebrew word that can mean dear, expensive, costly, heavy, or grievous. We were all created in the image of God, which on its own makes us precious. The reality is that sometimes children with …
When I think of how to support adoptive and foster kids, I remember working with a 9-year-old boy named Nathan in counseling. Nathan was in foster care. He had bounced around a few different foster care homes over the years but had been in a mostly stable and supportive situation for the past year. His …
I take care of the child, but there’s not much I can do for their parents. I’m not against reunification, but that depends on the family, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I have no control over the way this case plays out. I’ve thought it all before. If you’re a foster parent, …
I am a firm believer that one of the most challenging things in life is to feel alone in your pain. This has certainly been true in my own life. There were times I desperately wanted to hear someone say, “Same here.” I needed that level of emotional support. About 15 years ago, I got …
The African Proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ is particularly relevant in the realm of foster care. The journey of welcoming a child into your home mirrors the experience of bringing your first child home from the hospital—filled with uncertainty and the question, ‘Now what?’ There’s no manual or guidebook to accompany …
A fast-growing area of foster care policy is “kinship care,” when extended family members step up to take care of children at risk of going into the system. Part of the boom in kinship care is because official federal policy encourages states to find kinship placements before they turn to foster care. Another reason is the …
I stared at an email from our social worker stating that my husband, Gerritt, and I would not be approved as foster parents in the province of Nova Scotia. Our case would instead be deferred until we sought professional counseling. That was in 2013. Later we learned that we required further scrutiny, but it wasn’t …
Setting up for an evening training, I looked forward to sharing the impact of foster care and adoption on the biological children in the family. As the participants entered the classroom, I was stunned at who they were. Yet, the group looked like a room full of empty nesters. Overall, I was expecting young couples …
Inside a Foster Home: The Real Story Several years ago, I was given this blessing, “May you be covered by the dust of Jesus.” The quizzical look on my face prompted the pastor to explain his blessing to me.It was a contemporary version of an ancient Hebrew phrase, “In the Dust of the Rabbi.” The …
Can an abortion fail? Yes, it can. Learn more from a true life story.
Disability rights movement is a civil rights movement advocating for those with disabilities to have equal rights.
The realities for youth aging out of foster care too often include loneliness and struggle. However, there are ways we can help transition aged-out foster youth so that they have better opportunities for a successful future. Youth aging out of foster care deserve to be seen not for the problems they face but rather for …
While attending a pro-life conference earlier this year, I listened to a lecture on adopting children from a different race. The two presenters were talking about a term they called “transracial adoption.” To my surprise, much of the presentation consisted of the two white women explaining, to a predominantly white audience, why it was concerning …
Both kinship and licensed homes are feeling the pressure of growing foster needs. As I mentioned on the Common Good podcast with Brian from and Aubrey Sampson, people are closing their certified foster homes. Many say, “I can’t do this work” or “I can’t care for my relative because I lack the support and resources …
Trust-Based Relational Intervention®, more commonly known as TBRI®, is a model developed to address the challenges inherent in caring for children impacted by trauma, often including those impacted by adoption and/or foster care. The creators of TBRI, Drs. Karyn Purvis and David Cross, aptly share that trauma impacts the “5 B’s: Brain, Body, Biology, Beliefs, …
