Recognizing Everyday Heroes!
The month of May is National Foster Care Month, a time when we recognize the lives of so many children placed in foster care, as well as the dedicated organizations and families caring for these young lives. In Virginia, there are nearly 5,000 children currently in the foster care system. While not all are waiting for a forever home, they all still need a safe place to live with parents that will love and care for them.
“We don’t want even one child in our county to be without a loving home. [Adoption and foster care are] not the way of the American Dream. It doesn’t add to our comfort, prosperity, or ease. But we are discovering the indescribable joy of sacrificial love for others, and along the way we are learning more about the inexpressible wonder of God’s sacrificial love for us.” – Pastor David Platt
Imagine a young child removed from their current living conditions, for no fault of their own, and placed into a foster home or a group facility that is completely unfamiliar to them. With a dramatic change like this come all sorts of challenges and disappointments, but thanks to loving families willing to open their hearts and homes these transitions can become a little less scary. These compassionate families bring hope to foster children at a pivotal moment in their young lives.
For most of these families, they decided to become foster parents because of their deeply held religious convictions, and they choose to partner with a faith-based foster care agency – that aligns with their values - to provide homes to vulnerable children. Virginia, like so many other states, depends greatly on these faith-based foster care agencies to find homes for the majority of foster children.
Thankfully, in Virginia religious foster care and adoption agencies enjoy protections that allow them to operate in accordance with their deeply held beliefs. However, these protections were nearly erased this year during the General Assembly Session (read our blog “Huge Win for Faith-Based Adoption Agencies, And More!”). That’s why it’s so important to recognize the work of these dedicated organizations that, like pregnancy resource centers, are on the frontlines to save the lives of abandoned or neglected children.
Any foster parent will admit that it’s not easy, but these agencies, the state, and their churches provide them the necessary resources to help every step along the way.
Check Out These Resources In Virginia
Virginia Kids Belong – An organization for “empowering and equipping leaders in the business, government, creative, nonprofit, and faith-based sectors to end the crisis for kids in foster care.”
Virginia Department of Social Services
Adopt US Kids - Virginia- Provides information about licensing and support services.
