How to Help Foster Children

Christine and I have recently become certified foster parents.  We had thought about this since we were first married and finally began the process this Winter.  We want to share the love of Christ in a tangible way to children and their parents.  We want to show off the Gospel in the ministry of family reconciliation and/or adoption.

Right now we are very excited and a little fearful.  We have not gotten a phone call yet about taking a child but that day will come.  We ask for your prayers that we wouldn't make decisions based on pride or fear.  We don't want to pridefully think too much of ourselves and we know that:

"God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control." 2 Timothy 1:7

Please pray for us.  Pray for wisdom and pray that we aren't controlled by pride or fear.  Pray also for our extended families and their worry about this life-changing certification.

The process of becoming foster parents is not a short one.  There are home studies, background checks, reference checks and a 10-week class (to name a few of the hurdles).  For ten Thursdays in a row we had a 3-hour class in Mason City (which is an hour away).  So, for ten consecutive weeks we needed a babysitter for Joshua for five hours.

We didn't have the money to pay for fifty hours of babysitting, so we relied on some amazing friends and family.  Marc and Becky Harken, Emily Walrod, Amber Drilling, my mother-in-law and my mom all pitched in to help us for free.  We cannot thank them enough.

To those of you that helped babysit, we want you to know that you have made a difference in the lives of children.  We haven't fostered or adopted or done respite care at all yet, but we never could have done anything without you.  What you did is a major work in answering our Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

What Christine and I aren't looking for here is applause, especially since we still have yet to do foster care of any kind.  What we are doing in this blog is asking for your prayers and calling people to action.  We're encourage you to consider doing foster care.  And we encourage you to do something like what Marc, Becky, Emily, Amber and our mothers did.  Helping children in foster care can be something you can do even if you aren't taking in foster children yourselves.

"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." James 1:27

There is an enormous need in our country.  Please consider doing something in your community to help, because we're talking about children made in the image of God.  And finally, please pray for God to guide us in this and pray for the 437,465 children in foster care in the United States today.