I am grateful to be a part of a growing movement of churches and Christians engaging in the foster care movement. I am thrilled that Christ followers are taking up the mandate given in scripture such as we read in James 1:27. As far as I’m concerned it is about time that The Church is known as a people who take in the uncared for, the unloved, and the unwanted.
Where we have to be careful is in thinking that foster care is this glamorous thing we are doing. Foster care is as much beautiful as it is ugly, it is equally exciting to welcome an adorable little one into your home as it is heartbreaking that he had to be taken from his home. It is holding a sobbing child who misses her sister (who was placed in a different foster home), and it is seeing her smile for the first time weeks later as she plays chase with your son. Foster care is Dr’s appointments, therapy, and court dates, it is family visits and reunification – it is adoption.
When it comes down to it, foster care is not about what we can get, it is about what we can give! Do you have to give something(s) up to be a foster parent, yes. Being involved in foster care is not about you. It may take continually putting yourself aside and focusing on the needs of this little one that God has placed into your home. It may not be easy, it will not be glamorous, but the love that you are able to show this child can change the trajectory of their life! It will always be worth it!