Kids need Families – Foster Care and Adoption Resources

Consider sharing your life with a kid in need. Kids need to be cared for and trained up to be successful in life. You may be able to help a child in crisis for days or weeks or months. Sometimes foster children become adoptable. Sharing your life and family with a troubled child can be risky and frustrating but long term rewards can be experienced as the relationship grows. A child from a dysfunctional family (or no family) may learn what a loving family is from your example and use your model to raise their own family when they are adults. Foster care is rewarding ministry but it can also be difficult and drive you to your knees in prayer. In John 1:12 the Bible says God adopts us as His own children. Philippians 4:13 encourages us that we can do all things through Christ.

I have experienced both sides of “foster care” as I spent three years of my childhood in the care of others and my wife and I have been foster parents. We were blessed to adopt a child through foster care and it was a delightful experience. Years ago when my wife and I were dating before we married we both said we wanted to have two children and adopt another and God faithfully answered that prayer.

We recently watched the Instant Family movie and discussed what we could do to help kids that need homes and in this stage of our lives decided the best thing we could do is to encourage other families to Foster and Adopt children. Maybe God is calling you to take in someone else’s child(ren)?

Here are some links to foster care resources if you are considering opening your home and life to the child(ren) in need.

Family Life Audio https://www.familylife.com/podcast/topics/foster-parenting/
Family Life Articles https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/parenting/foundations/adoption-and-orphans/would-you-say-yes-to-becoming-an-instant-family/
Gospel Coalition https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-foster-care-became-christian-priority-just-time/
Desiring God https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/foster-care-as-the-way-of-christ
Focus on the Family http://media.focusonthefamily.com/topicinfo/adoption.pdf
Bethany Christian Services https://bethany.org/help-a-child/foster-care/us-foster-care
Christian Alliance for Orphans https://cafo.org/
How to Adopt http://www.howtoadopt.org/ and www.showhope.org.
Adopt US Kids https://www.adoptuskids.org/ and https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/focus-areas/foster-care

Drawing on real-life experiences near to the hearts of its members and extended family of friends, GRAMMY, AMA and Dove Award winning, Atlanta-based rock band Third Day uses the issue of adoption as a metaphor for God’s love in the video for its latest single, “Children of God.” “Children of God” is the second single from the band’s 11th studio project, Move, and features footage of families with adopted children, denoted by t-shirts emblazoned with the word “adopted.” The families (including that of Third Day’s lead vocalist Mac Powell, who recently welcomed adopted son Emmanuel and daughter Birdie) eventually all don the signature white t-shirts, revealing the idea that we’re all adopted into the family of God.
Description from CBN