As a pro-family Christian ministry, Focus on the Family has always promoted adoption and foster care for families. In fact, since 2008, our Wait No More™ ministry has supported foster and adoptive families through conferences, events, free resources, and more. We want to encourage Christian families in their calling to foster, adopt, or support other …
Foster Care
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 …
If you’re hoping to adopt a child, becoming a foster parent is often a great way to bring into your home a child who may, under the right circumstances, become a part of your family. Each year, around 50,000 children are adopted from foster care, and there are over 100,000 children in foster care waiting …
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 …
Elisha sat across from me in a booth at a local restaurant, as we talked about the impact of foster care on her biological children. “Why is my six-year-old daughter, Alise behaving just like my new foster daughter, Sara, who is four? She is throwing tantrums and now is quite oppositional and defiant, just like …