Foster Care Success Stories

It seems as though, the minute you tell people you're pursuing foster care or foster-adoption, they immediately tell you every horrible story they have ever heard (or, more likely, seen on Law & Order SVU) about foster care disasters. I can't explain this phenomenon, but I can tell you first-, second-, and third-hand that it happens. A lot. Contrast this reaction to the reaction people express to a pregnant friend. (I'm assuming most people aren't going around telling newly pregnant mothers horror stories of miscarriages, birth defects, and the like.)

If I'm being generous, I think the intention behind all of these "this child will murder you in your sleep" cautions is to potentially change the person's mind about the idea of foster care. And, granted, a pregnant woman is only rarely at the "I could still change my mind" stage. But, to be honest, by the time your friend or family member tells you she is pursuing foster care or foster adoption, her mind is already made up. Chances are, you do not get a vote in her decision. And if, somehow, you do get to weigh in with your opinion, tread lightly. We don't greet the news, "I'm thinking about taking a trip to New York" with "Don't do that; you'll die in a horrible plane crash!" So if someone says to you, "I'm thinking about fostering a child" or "I'm thinking about adopting a child from foster care" and asks you what you think, try saying something like "Gosh, I don't know much about foster care. How did you become interested in that?"

And if you want to reach rockstar status with your friend or family member, you could email them a link to an article you saw about some foster care success stories. And if you do, you'll be almost as awesome as my older sister, Beth, who emailed it to me. =)

Honestly, knowing what I am only beginning to know about the nightmare lives most of these kids have already survived, it is amazing any of them make it to eighteen without jumping off a bridge. The fact that most of them persevere, and that many of them triumph is so encouraging. As my beloved Karyn Purvis says, "I have never seen a child who could not reach significant levels of healing."

In the world of foster care, there is hurt, yes. There is horror. But there is hope and healing as well. And as Christians, we have more reason to hope and more help to heal than anyone, so shouldn't we be the first to extend that hope and healing to the most hurt among us?

But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. --Malachi 4:2