How My Church Got Me Into Foster Care
May 12, 2016 | By Cory
Several weeks ago my wife and I welcomed our first foster child into our home. It has been a blessing and I have my church family to thank for it. We never planned to become foster parents, it just sort of happened. Twice a year our small group ministry participates in an event we call "Outside the Walls." This is where each group does a service project for someone in the community or a local organization. It is one of the ways we try to show the community we care. One of the groups chose to stuff envelops for a local organization that recruits Christian families into foster care. The group, which I had never heard of, posted a thank you note on Facebook. I followed up to see which group had done the project and what the organization was all about and was invited to an information meeting to see how the church here could help them. We walked out as foster parents. During one of the trainings we went through to complete the process, one of the instructors warned us that many people don't know what to think about foster care. They will unintentionally say or do things that are either awkward or hurtful. That has not been the case for us; at least not with our church family. Our foster child is blessed to have them. They had a shower for him after we said we had everything we needed. They treat him like their own, even though he's not even our own. Last night someone was chasing him in the atrium when another person commented that he was a cute kid. The adult said, "thank you," like it was his kid. They have made him love coming to church because they love him. Thank you church family. I went to that meeting back in October to see how the church could get involved with helping kids in the foster care system. They are already involved through the way they have welcomed our foster child but we are having an information meeting here on May 24th for anyone who would like to find out more about becoming a foster or adoptive family. To register for that event click here. - Cory Spruiell