Jamie C. Finn is the president of Foster the Family and the founder of the Filled Retreat. Her latest book is Filled: 60 Devotions for the Foster Parent’s Heart (Baker). As believers, we pray for hearts that mirror God’s own, seeking to build lives that follow our Lord to the people and places he loves. We yearn for our churches to be built around his gospel mission, and these burdens—informed by Scripture—lead God’s people directly to the doors of the foster care system.
This commitment to the foster care system is a natural extension of our faith. When we align our desires with the heart of the Father, we find ourselves compelled to care for the vulnerable. By integrating this mission into the local church, we ensure that foster families and children are not walking their difficult journeys alone, but are instead supported by a community dedicated to the gospel.
While the words “foster care” may not be found explicitly in the Bible, reading Scripture reveals God’s clear call for his people to engage in foster care. The Old Testament describes God’s protection of the orphan and the fatherless, outlining a plan for his people to do the same. Furthermore, the Savior calls us to the second greatest commandment—loving our neighbors—and James defines pure religion as the act of caring for widows and orphans in their distress.
The gospel message—that God sent his Son to forgive, transform and restore what sin has broken—is the hope for the people and families entangled in the broken foster care system. We have experienced this transformation ourselves, and now are invited—and commanded—to follow Jesus to the people and spaces he came for.
More than 391,000 children are in the foster care system. And, more than 113,000 of these children are legal orphans, waiting for adoption. A shocking 20,000 foster youth will “age out” of the system each year, without ongoing family systems of support. Of these youth, 20% will be homeless the day they age out, 70% will be arrested within a few years, and 70% of girls will become pregnant within a few years. These are the numbers of a child welfare system—and a nation—in crisis. These are the numbers of a mission field, desperate for the hope and help the church has to offer.
The church needs direction and guidance to faithfully and wisely engage the foster care system with the love of Christ. Thankfully, gospel-centered, trauma-informed, foster-care-fluent resources have been written by faith leaders, experts in trauma and those with lived experience to help us do that.
Everyone Can Do Something: A Field Guide for Strategically Rallying Your Church Around the Orphaned and Vulnerable by Jason Johnson (Credo House Publishers) provides direction for church leaders in rallying, mobilizing and equipping their local church to engage the foster care community. This book is equal parts theological and practical, and will serve any church serving vulnerable children and the families welcoming them through foster care.
Reframing Foster Care: Filtering Your Foster Parenting Journey Through the Lens of the Gospel by Jason Johnson (Credo House Publishers) offers a thoroughly gospel-centered lens through which to view the experience of foster parenting and offers hope and help to Christian foster parents seeking to apply biblical principles to their foster care journey.
Until There’s More Than Enough: Working Together to Transform Foster Care Where You Live by Jason Weber (Credo House Publishers) is a resource for church, community and nonprofit leaders to gain vision and direction for the cooperative, unified partnership necessary to impact the foster care community. This book will help leaders lay the groundwork for healthy and collaborative networks in their local communities.
Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family Through Foster Care by Tori Hope Petersen (B&H Publishing) is a memoir by a young Christian woman who has experienced the chaos and trauma of the foster care system, as well as the healing and transforming power of the gospel. Leaders entering the foster care space will be served by pursuing the humble practice of listening to those with lived experience, and this book is a great place to start.
The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross and Wendy Lyons Sunshine (McGraw Hill) is an important resource for a church that is looking to create disciples and programs that are trauma-informed and ready to meet the needs of children who’ve experienced abuse, neglect and the trauma of foster care.