May is National Foster Care Awareness Month.
We’re honoring all those who have stepped into the world of adoption and foster care on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “The Complicated, Beautiful Life of a Foster Mom” with our guest Jessie Gallaher. She describes her difficult yet rewarding journey of adopting five children from foster care – all at once!
When they first brought the kids home, many people told Jessie and her husband, “Just love them, and time will heal all of their wounds.” But like most adoptive parents, they discovered that raising children with traumatic backgrounds also requires structure and consistency.
When you bring children into your home out of the difficult circumstances they were in, things can go sideways quickly. You can’t anticipate the journey ahead. What you can know is that when you follow God, His grace offers a way through the obstacles you face, not just to survive but to thrive.
Adoption is not all roses, but it’s not all thorns, either. You have to be able to trust that God can bring victory out of hardship. When things seem to be going wrong, a breakthrough is often on the horizon.
I hope you’ll consider adoption; or entering the foster system to be a temporary, safe, and loving home for kids; or serving as a respite giver – helping foster or adoptive families with laundry, dinner, or babysitting.
There are about 350,000 churches in the United States. There are about 100,000 children who are looking for adoptive homes. That equates to approximately one adoption for every three churches.
I encourage you to join us for “The Complicated, Beautiful Life of a Foster Mom” on your local radio station, online, oniTunes, via Podcast, or take us with you on our free phone app, or watch the full program on our YouTubechannel. God could be calling you to engage with foster care in some way. Kids need loving homes, and you can play an important part.
If you’re wondering where to start or just need more information, visit our website Wait No More(or call us at 800-A-FAMILY). We’ll help you discover what you can do to step into the life of a foster child in the name of Christ. We estimate that over 4,000 children have been adopted out of foster care through our Wait No More program.
I’d also like to extend an invitation for you to become a special partner with us through our monthly “Friends of Focus on the Family”program.When you do, I’ll send you a copy of Jessie Gallagher’s book, Many Thorns, Yet Still Roses: Breaking the Silence with Our Story of Sibling Group Adoptionas a way of saying thank you for touching others with the love of Christ. To make your pledge, or for more information, visit our website.
Leave a Reply