I remember one of the first times I heard about 4KIDS I was at my home church over 17 years ago. The pastor was showing us visuals of school buses and how the number of children coming into foster care was equivalent to multiple bus loads every month.

At the time, my wife and I were completely unaware of the dire situation kids were facing in the foster care system. We had no idea that kids were being separated from their siblings, sent to live in other counties, or going to shelters because no one would take them in.

 

The reality of foster care today

Today, I am all too familiar with the realities that kids in our backyards are facing in foster care, but it still stops me in my tracks. In fact, in the 13 Florida counties 4KIDS serves, nearly 1,700 kids have been removed from their homes since July of last year. 1,700 kids is hard to even fathom, so instead try to picture just over 200 kids every month, or even 50 kids per week. 50 babies, children, and teens could fill a school bus every week, all with their own stories, needs, and broken dreams. Every single one of those lives is precious, and this National Foster Care Month, I encourage you to pray and reflect on what you can do for even just one of those lives in crisis.

 

God’s calling

I love how clearly God lines this out for us in James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Our community’s modern-day widows and orphans are the children and families breaking down and entering the foster care system every day. It can feel like perhaps an insurmountable problem to tackle, but with each “yes” from a 4KIDS foster parent, a life is being touched with the love of Christ and eternally changed.

Some of my good friends and 4KIDS co-workers, Mark and Donna Churchill said “yes” to fostering in an unexpected season. Their kids were now teenagers and for many that time is a welcomed break from the diapers and round-the-clock care of little ones. Instead, Mark and Donna opened their home to babies who had nowhere else to go. Mark shared with me, “Fostering has taught us how to lead by example for our own biological children. We spent years telling them to be good people, serve others, serve God, etc… but we weren’t doing it ourselves. When we began fostering, we started SHOWING them how to serve rather than telling them.”

 

Blessings abound

I see it in my own life and in the lives of hundreds of other 4KIDS Foster Families, that even though we begin this journey with a heart to bless these kids, in the end our lives are incredibly blessed in the process. I think about how Mark shared the example he’s able to set for his own teens, and I see God granting so many unexpected blessings along the way.

Mark went on to share, “[Fostering] has taught us that no matter their background or race, they want love and just want to be kids. We have had five kids in our home over the past seven years, and we can honestly say that there has never been a day where we wished we didn’t have them.”

Right now, based on the number of kids coming into care so far this year, 4KIDS needs at least 33 more foster homes in Broward County, 23 in Palm Beach County, and 10 in the Treasure Coast this month to ensure every child can have a loving family. These numbers are attainable, and they have the power to radically impact the lives of kids in their most vulnerable time.

Matthew 18:5 says, “And whoever welcomes one such child in My name welcomes Me.” We know that saying “yes” to these children is Kingdom work, going far beyond their life or ours and replicating the gospel.

I pray that you would consider what saying “yes” might look like for you and your family. Hope, Homes, and Healing run far deeper than service offerings, they are living reflections of God’s heart and His gospel here on earth. I know that however you can be a part of that will change your life for the better.

For Foster Care Interest, visit https://www.4kids.us/programs/foster-care

For more on Hope, Homes, and Healing, visit https://www.4kids.us/about/4KIDSModel