Celebrating Foster Care Awareness Month
Every year at Grace Church, our church family has the opportunity to reflect on the beauty of adoption as we consider what Foster Care Awareness Month means for us. For many Christian parents, living out the doctrine of adoption has meant opening their homes to children who need one.
But parents who choose to foster children are quickly confronted by a difficult reality: fostering a child is not the same as adopting one. While some foster children do need a permanent adoptive home, the primary goal of foster care is to eventually reunify the child with his or her biological family. When a social worker drops a child off at a foster parent’s home, the foster parent steps into a world of uncertainty. They have no idea what tomorrow, next month, or next year will hold. A child might stay in their home for a single weekend or grow under their care for multiple years, only to leave when their biological family is ready to receive them.
In the face of these difficulties, however, it is Christian parents who are the most equipped to persist in the sacrificial love that foster care requires. Christians are humbled by the reality of our own adoption, knowing that we were once estranged from God (1 Peter 2:10) and by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1–3). Yet, according to the good pleasure of His will, God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5). He legally transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into His family, where we now enjoy full rights as heirs of the living God (Romans 8:15–17; Galatians 4:4–5). Christians have laid hold of the precious reality that God first loved us when we were helpless.
In light of this, welcoming a vulnerable child into our homes through foster care is not merely an act of humanitarian kindness; it is a tangible, earthly echo of the gospel. Just as God sovereignly sought us out when we were helpless and brought us into His family, foster care is an opportunity to step into the messiness of a fractured and imperfect system to provide safety, grace, and love. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to point these precious little ones—and often their families who also need Christ—to the ultimate hope of forgiveness in Christ.
Finally, Christians understand not only what God has done, but what He continues to do. They have the comfort of knowing that God is sovereign and in control of all things, and that He will always accomplish His good pleasure (Isaiah 46:10). He works all things together for good in the lives of His people (Romans 8:28), so even when circumstances are difficult or uncertain, He can be trusted.
If you are praying about how to extend Christ’s love to needy children and their families, we encourage you to consider foster care and adoption. The need is great, and while the challenges are undeniable, we can assure you that loving others in a way that so closely mirrors the way the Father has loved you brings rich blessings and indescribable joys.
Foster Care Awareness Month
Our Hands for Hope ministry provides counsel and resources for families considering foster care and adoption.
As many children await a family through adoption, there is currently a great need for foster families, along with opportunities through Safe Families for Children to provide short-term respite care for children without entering the foster care system. To learn more about either of these opportunities, visit gracechurch.org/handsforhope.