More than 400,000 children are in the foster care system, according to the U.S. Children’s Bureau. Yet there is hardly a county in our nation where we have enough quality foster parents available for case workers to place children in crisis.

Case workers are burning out at an alarming rate. Few have the luxury of matching the needs of a child to a foster family. Any empty bed they can find will have to do.

Many churches have heard this call of desperation for more foster parents and are promoting foster care as a ministry. Nevertheless, we are losing about half of interested families during the arduous 30 hours of licensing training. And half of those who make it through the licensing process leave the foster care ministry in their first year.

Children whose lives are already disrupted experience further traumatization by the failure of their foster placement. Foster parents who intended to do good are left feeling like a failure.

Foster care is in a crisis, and we believe only the Church can provide a viable solution to the problem. Here are five things the local church can do to increase placement stability in foster care:

1. Promote foster care as a missionary calling. We must recruit more Christian foster parents. Furthermore, we need to present it as a missionary calling that will require sacrifice, training and continuous support. No family should enter this ministry without prayerfully counting the cost and considering what it would mean for each member.

2. Identify a foster care support champion. Every foster family needs a family advocate serving as a liaison between them and the community. The advocate can represent their needs to the church family and mobilize helpers. Foster children may have emotional and behavior issues that lead to disruptions at church. Family advocates can help the church family understand their needs and extend grace and acceptance. These advocates can also organize volunteers who will minister to the foster family.

3. Recruit a team of prayerful supporters. The family advocate needs a whole team of volunteers. The advocate’s task begins when the foster family receives the call for their first placement. The church should have a plan in place to respond to the immediate needs of that placement.

A prepared meal on the first night as the foster parents are trying to connect with the kids can be a real help. Within 24 hours, deliver an age-appropriate welcome basket for the kids. Because children often arrive with only a few belongings, provide access to clothing and sanitary supplies as well.

Conduct an immediate needs assessment with the foster parents. Ask about the children’s physical needs. Does someone need to pick up prescription medications or provide transportation to school as the parents adjust their work schedules? Is there a need for extra beds or other necessities?

The goal during those first days is to make it easier for the foster parents to focus on connecting with their foster kids.

Foster parents need
a band of volunteers prayerfully holding
up their arms as they minister to children
in crisis.

Later, volunteers can provide casseroles and pizzas for weekend meals. Some can organize birthday parties or buy Christmas presents for the children. Others can offer to drive the kids to their medical appointments or pick them up from school when the foster parents need to work late.

Typical families usually have extended family members — such as uncles, aunts and grandparents — who provide this kind of support for their children. The local church can replicate this supportive community for foster families, so they are never without resources to provide the caring wraparound every family needs. Foster parents need a band of volunteers prayerfully holding up their arms as they minister to children in crisis.

The family advocate should stay abreast of the changing needs in the family and adapt the support from the volunteer community to keep pace. There may be court dates, biological family meetings, and hospital visits that make some weeks especially difficult. There will also be times when the foster parents need to take a break for a weekend respite or a date night.

A family advocate who responds to changing needs, and even anticipates opportunities that could relieve the pressure on foster parents, can go a long way toward increasing placement stability and success.

4. Create positive experiences for foster children. From 1995–97, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente conducted a large-scale study of how childhood abuse and neglect impacts victims in adulthood. Researchers found that violence, abuse, neglect, parental substance abuse, and parental separation all have profound implications for a child’s future.

The study identified 10 adverse childhood experiences that increase the risk of chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance abuse in later years. Individuals with more than four of these risk factors were most likely to experience social, emotional and cognitive impairments. Children entering foster care typically fall into that category.

However, new research over the last decade suggests positive childhood experiences can help counter the long-term effects of trauma. Such experiences can help a child build resilience and begin the healing process.

By providing these positive experiences, the church community can help reverse the effects of trauma. Children have positive experiences when they feel supported by friends; have a sense of belonging and connection with a larger group; participate in community traditions; and develop a relationship with at least one non-parent adult who takes a genuine interest in them. There are a variety of ways for churches to facilitate such experiences.

5. Build bridges to biological families. Many children in foster care eventually return to their biological families. This is always a primary goal for case workers. God created the family so that children can flourish. Thus, the local church needs to promote family reunification.

This may require intensive community support to get the family back on their feet, or supportive discipleship that guides moms and dads toward wholeness so they can resume their parental responsibilities. This is a wonderful evangelistic opportunity for local churches to reach out to families and help reunite parents with their children.

Using these five strategies, the Church can change the face of foster care in our nation. No other institution in society can even come close to the transforming power of the community of believers acting in unison to display God’s wisdom to the nations.

Other Articles in This Series

• “If God and the Church Don’t Help” by Rick Dubose
• “The American Foster Care Crisis” by Eric Porter
• “A Biblical Mandate to Care” by Allen Griffin
• “Misconceptions About Foster Parenting” by Sharen E. Ford

This article appears in the Winter 2022 edition of Influence magazine.