Next Month is National Foster Care Month!!
The article below was posted on the Christian Alliance for Orphans blog http://chrisitianallianceblog.org/?p=608
While some of these statistics are discouraging please pay close attention to the last paragraph: The church is making a difference. I think we can make a bigger impact on the lives of children who come into foster care. I have heard Dr. Sharen Ford in Colorado say that the children in foster care are the churches responsibility. My heart just resonated with that truth when she spoke it. These children need the church to stand in the gap for them. Give close attention to how the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart regarding this issue. We will have many posts next month regarding the need for Foster Parents in Northern Colorado. We will be hosting an event at Timberline Church on May 16th at 5:00pm in the main auditorium. Dr. Sharen Ford will be the key note speaker for this event. Larimer County, Weld County, Lutheran Family Services and several organizations supporting foster families will be present. The article below was posted on the Christian Alliance for Orphans blog http://chrisitianallianceblog.org/?p=608
Mark your calendar, spread the word and see how you should be involved in the life of a child who finds themselves in foster care. You can make a difference!!! :)
The New York Times reports on a significant new study released Wednesday that examines the lives of foster children who were never adopted and “aged out” of foster care into adulthood alone. The findings echo those of prior studies, reminding that government is a poor substitute for parents, and underscoring the long-term challenges facing individuals who grow up and enter adulthood without the love and support of a family.
By their mid-20s, less half of those who’d aged out of foster care were employed. More than 80 percent of males had been arrested (compared to 17 percent of all males). And of women who’d aged out of the foster system, 68 percent were on food stamps, compared to 7 percent of all women.
As the study’s lead researcher explains, ““We took them away from their parents on the assumption that we as a society would do a better job of raising them. We’ve invested a lot money and time in their care, and by many measures they’re still doing very poorly.” See the troubling chart from the NY Times on the statistical outcomes below, and to read more, click here…
In the midst of this disturbing reminder, however, there’s reason for much hope. As noted in prior blog posts here, Christians nationwide are rallying to this need. In some regions of concentrated effort, it is entirely conceivable that we will see a day when virtually no children whose parental relationship has been terminated grow up without being adopted. For example, as noted in this post from Februaryand in today’s “Capitol Commentary” from the Center for Public Justice, the number of children waiting for adoption in the Colorado foster system has been slashed in half, from nearly 800 to 365, since November 2008 (despite a continual inflow of new children in need of adoption.) The simple truth is that, daunting as the needs are, this is a challenge that can be overcome. If just a small percentage of America’s 300,000 churches created small foster care and adoption ministries, the number of children waiting for adoption in the foster system could be reduced to virtually zero and the statistics highlighted below could be fundamentally transformed. That’s a vision worth dreaming, praying, and working towards.
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