It was a joy to have once again the car filled with boys coming home from Sunday morning church. All of our children were off to college or living on their own. The conversation meandered between Sunday School lessons, weekend happenings, and the school days ahead.
As we drove into town, one boy had noticed several yard signs prominently displayed in front of churches along the way. “Be the neighbor, help foster a child,” they proclaimed. My young friend’s next observation struck my heart!
“It’s nice to see that so many churches care about us kids in foster care,” he exclaimed.
Foster A Child
Let that comment sit on your heart for a moment and consider the implications of his words. Does the church truly care for those in the foster care system, or is this merely a game of semantics? What happens when we consider the foster care crisis in light of the parable of the Good Samaritan? (Luke 10:25-37)
If the parable changed to, “there once was a child who was neglected, abandoned or abused through no fault of his own,” so should our response. God has fully equipped the church not to walk idly by or to waste time simply talking about the problem. He has bestowed His church with the time, talents, and treasures to make an eternal differenced in the lives of vulnerable children and families who care for them. When the service of the local church fills the needs of children in foster care, God receives the glory.
The Cost
In the United States, there are over 400,000 children in the foster care system. This system costs taxpayers over $7 billion a year.1 The costs to children and youth in the foster care system are devastating. In some states, over half of the prison population has come from foster care. Sixty percent of the children in human trafficking come out of foster care. Two-thirds of girls who age out of the foster care system are pregnant within two years, continuing the poverty cycle...
