The Hope — Blessed Are The Poor

Meet the Maurer family. A family who has responded to the need and has adopted five beautiful kids through foster care and is waiting to finalize the adoptions of two more in their care. *Photo by Pixels and Prints Imagery.

This post is part 3 in a series of 3. Read about The Need in part 1, and The Numbers in Part 2

All throughout scripture we see God's heart for the marginalized, the overlooked, those experiencing injustice. But that's not where it stops. God repeatedly uses the authors of scripture to call believers to action. In James 1:27 we are told that a huge part of true religion is "to visit orphans and widows in their distress." Isaiah 1:17 tells us to "seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." Again in Psalm 82:3, we are instructed to "defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed."

So when considering all of the information we have discussed in this series regarding the current foster care crisis in America, I feel confidant that the question does not lie in "is there a need?" (The Need / The Numbers"), or "is God calling us to do something about this need?". The numbers are there, the scriptures are clear. But rather, I think the question followers of Christ need to start asking ourselves is, "what can/should I be doing about the foster care crisis right now?".

“We don’t all have the same gifting or strengths. Yet God uses our differences to together make one fully functioning body.”

Romans 12:4-6 describes how just like the body has many functions, so do believers. We don't all have the same gifting or strengths. Yet God uses our differences to together make one fully functioning body. As it pertains to the foster care crisis, are all Christians called to become foster parents? No! But I do feel confidant that all believers are called to do something for this particularly marginalized group.

Becoming a foster parent is one of the most tangible ways that believers can care for orphans immediately in their distress. Being a foster parent/family can be amazing, rewarding, and life giving. But the truth is that it is also intense, emotionally draining, time consuming, life destroying, mentally confusing, and just a plain roller coaster ride for that family. Much in the way Christ laid down his life for us, foster families are literally laying aside their family for the sake of other children in crisis.

This again is where the body of Christ comes in. Although not all are called to foster, there are so many ways that friends and family can wrap around and support foster families and the children they are caring for. From bringing meals, to babysitting, driving their kids to school, baby showers, folding their laundry, buying supplies, providing respite care. The list of ways to support foster families and meet the needs of the children in their care is long and yet attainable when we all come together to contribute (more specifics to be discussed in future post).

So if God's heart is so clearly caring for the orphan, and there are almost 500,000 kids currently in foster care in the US, and we are being told that there is a huge need for foster parents, then I implore us, the church, to be the church and to stand up and stand together (with urgency) and meet the need at hand. Let’s stop trying to figure out if there is a need (there is!), or if you have the ability to meet this need in some capacity (with the help of the church you do!) or if now is the right time (it never is, but that’s ok!)

Instead let's identify people willing to become foster parents and let's surround and support both them, and other already existing foster families as well. Let's love on these kids in their care and model God's heart for them. Let's be the people who step in and intervene and instill hope and worth into foster children and give them a chance at a different life than what the statistics tell them they will become. Children and Family Services offices across the country are literally begging for families to take in these children. Let’s do this church (with joy)! The world is waiting, the world is watching.