It’s summertime, but we’re thinking about Christmas. I was in my office the other day, looking toward a whiteboard our team had filled with numbers. These numbers represented the number of homes available to kids in foster care, the number of kids who still need homes, the number of families who don’t go on to get licensed and more. But what I found myself thinking about besides all those big numbers was how if just one family started the process to become a 4KIDS Foster Family right now, they’d be giving a child a home and a family this Christmas. 

 

The call 

There is a sign in my office that reads, “Sometimes we need to turn our lives upside down to turn the life of a child right side up.” After fostering more than 50 different children over the years, I am well acquainted with how life does indeed get turned upside down when we welcome a child in crisis into our homes. For many, this fear of the unknown stops them from experiencing one of the greatest callings God puts on our lives – to care for the widow and the orphan in their time of distress. 

But I completely understand the hesitancy; I see families all the time who are wrestling with the desire to do more but unsure how to possibly make it happen. Of course, we want to see families who are prepared and ready to open their hearts and their homes to kids in need, but I also know you’ll probably never feel fully ready. 

 

The foster care landscape

The reality for kids as we weigh the pros and cons and keep waiting to feel “ready” is something we often shy away from. The reality today is that there are not enough homes for kids coming into foster care. In fact, there are fewer and fewer homes in the years following COVID. It has been alarming for me to see, after decades in this work, that homes for kids in crisis are becoming more and more scarce. 

When there are not enough foster homes, that means kids will go to shelters, group homes or be sent to different parts of the state. We know that this institutional care simply cannot compare to the love, stability and belonging that kids experience in a foster home. Remember, these kids were removed from their own homes by no fault of their own due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. And in the midst of the pain and trauma of that removal, too many kids are then separated from their siblings and placed into institutional care. As the church, this is something we cannot look away from; it should be moving us to action! 

 

A forever Impact

It amazes me when I look around and I get to see the young adults thriving who were once little kids coming into a 4KIDS Foster Family years ago. I have countless stories of Marines, college football players, thriving parents, college graduates and so many more. These are all young adults whose lives could have been so different if a family hadn’t said “yes” to them so many years ago. The children facing shelters today are tomorrow’s adults. No matter how long a child is with a foster family, a short time, years or perhaps forever through adoption, the impact on their hearts, lives and eternities is precious. 

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve asked this same, local Christian community too many times if they’d consider fostering. But even writing this, I know that if just one person reading begins the process to foster today, then even just one life will be forever changed. Every one of these children are so deeply loved by God, to get to share His love with them in our homes isn’t just a blessing for that child but a blessing for us as parents. 

If you’re reading this and thinking you don’t feel “ready” to open your home, but you feel that stirring in your heart, I’d encourage you to visit us online and simply fill out an interest form. A conversation with our team can be incredibly helpful as you consider how you might make a difference in the life of a child in need. 

Please, join me in praying for the kids who are already waiting, for the kids who will need a home this Christmas, and for the families God is calling to step in and bring them home.

For more information on 4KIDS of South Florida, visit https://4kids.us/

For more stories on foster care, visit https://www.goodnewsfl.org/topic/life/family/