Scripture calls us to care for the vulnerable. Except for a child in the womb, no one is more vulnerable than a child without a family.

Adoption and foster care represent a deeply meaningful journey, yet adoptive and foster families face unique stressors, including insecure attachment issues, trauma responses, and service agencies who don’t provide sufficient training or support.

How can you help?

Authors Jon and Dawn Stone are with us on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Foster Care: Making a Difference During the Formative Years” to share a concept called “missional fostering,” which includes coming alongside children as a church community and connecting families with the resources they need to raise their children to thrive.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting May 3, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Mom and Dad, are you a tugboat or a rudder?

You can tell by the way you motivate your children. Tugboat parents get their children going the right direction by pushing and pulling them through life. There’s a lot of nagging, mild threats, and endless warnings against the consequences of bad choices.

I think every parent has done that. I know I’ve grabbed the rope and started to pull when one of my boys hasn’t made a good decision.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting May 1, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Many women feel overwhelmed. They’re busy from morning until night yet still don’t seem to have enough time for important things like devotions, exercise, friendships, sleep, or quality time with their families.

My wife, Jean, did a great job of keeping our family and household in order during our parenting years. But some days the strain she was under was tough. Like the evening I came home from work, and Jean met me at the door.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting April 25, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The desire to be popular, pretty, or admired by other people starts early for girls.

Beauty and body image are now common concerns for girls as young as 10 years old. By age 17, 78% report feeling unhappy with their bodies.

My wife and I didn’t have the privilege of raising daughters, but Jean can attest to struggling with feeling comfortable in her own skin as a teen girl.

Truth be told, Eve was the first and only female to experience God’s love and acceptance while living in an environment free of competition with or comparison to anyone else.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting April 17, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A father told psychologist Michael Anderson, “You wouldn’t believe what my daughter has become. Ninety days ago, she was an A-student. She was in the church youth group and did anything we told her to do. Now she’s smoking and drinking, shoplifting, and does anything her friends tell her to do.”

Michael responded, “The only thing that has changed is who your daughter is listening to.”

In working with the family, Michael knew that the father had never encouraged his daughter to think for herself, only to follow instructions.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting April 13, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

It’s not easy for a single mother to raise a son. It’s even more difficult when that son has autism.

Emily Colson can attest to both. Her husband walked out when their son Max was just 18-months old, saying he couldn’t handle the stress.

And there was a lot of stress.

Max’s autism was so severe that, for a time, Emily couldn’t leave home with him – not to the grocery store, not to friends’ houses, not to church.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting April 3, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

If a loved one is dying, what should you tell your children?

My mom died of cancer when I was nine years old. For reasons I still don’t fully understand, my stepdad and my older siblings never told me how sick she was. All I knew was that she spent most of the day asleep in her room, and I was rarely allowed to see her. Then, one day my 19-year-old brother Mike said, “I’ve got bad news.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting March 29, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Instilling virtue in our children can be pretty serious business. After all, the adult world is a competitive place, and we want kids to be prepared.

Unfortunately, the desire to raise our children can lead to harsh standards that smother them. At report card time, a nearly straight-A student may be asked why they didn’t get that one grade a little higher. Or a teenager who displays the slightest sign of irresponsibility may get a 15-minute lecture.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting March 13, 2023 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura