Foster families don’t quit because they don’t care. They quit because they’re not being cared for.
Foster Families Need Your Support
The foster and kinship families in your faith community right now are “unseen” first-responders. They’re doing the hard work of standing in the gap for vulnerable kids, and yet they rarely top our service priorities. Explore these 3 best practices to support families and help them thrive
Trauma Aware
Train all children / youth staff and volunteers on trauma.
Support Ministry
Host a ministry such as WRAP teams, Foster Parents’ Night Out or a Foster Family Support Group.
Teach On The Need
Teach on God’s heart for vulnerable children and give people ways to take action.
Mom Shares Her WRAP Experience
You can run on empty and burn out in a year, or you can accept help to keep going. And all those people [on your WRAP team] will be inspired to step up and help in other ways.
It’s so much more than a simple act of service. It’s saying, “We see you. You are doing a lot.”
— Abby Koenigseker, foster mom
2 Easy Next Steps
Use this assessment to see how your famiies are doing and what they need. Use the insights to build a grassroots response.
Share this flyer with your leadership to start a conversation about how to become Foster Friendly.
6 Irresistible Reasons To Support Kinship and Foster Families
1
Foster parents show up for vulnerable kids in a time of crisis. Yet half stop fostering in the first year, due in part to “a lack of community and social support.”
2
Justice, mercy and grace are core tenets of most faith traditions.
3
People of faith already care about foster care and adoption and are fare more likely to adopt and foster than the general population.
4
Foster care is a non-partisan, unifying issue.
5
Foster care is an upstream issue. It is at the root of homelessness, sex trafficking, incarceration and many other social wounds.
6
Foster families need safe places where they and their kids can find welcoming community and respite.
Foster care is an upstream issue. Kids in foster care are at greater risk for many of our communities’ top social wounds if they “age out” without a family.
