Everyone Can Do Something
“If God has given me this gift of compassion, why am I so emotionally weak? Why can’t I do this hard thing?”
Julie asked herself this after a social worker leaned across her dining room table and told her and her husband that foster parenting might not be the best fit for them because of her tender heart. During each meeting with the social worker, she cried hearing the difficult situations these children came from.
Even the social worker had to transition to home studies because foster parenting is such a strenuous and emotional path to take.
Julie and her husband were eager to do their part to help hurting children and assumed that meant becoming foster parents.
Little did they know that their family would soon move due to her husband’s job. Even if fostering had been a good fit and they had finished their training and home studies, they still would not have been able to transfer their foster parenting license to another state.
Four years later, they ended up in Birmingham. At their new church, Julie met Maureen Hallman, a Partnership Specialist for ABCH, who shared with her about Women of Compassion. She learned about how this group of women uses their generosity and their voice to make a difference for foster kids. Last year, roughly 80 women from across the state rallied together to provide a new playground at our Dothan office, a shade to cover the playground, and a new gazebo.
This resonated deeply with Julie. “I don’t know what could be more meaningful than joining together with other passionate women to bring hope and joy to the lives of children who have had so much taken from them,” Julie shared. “I imagine nothing could please the heart of God more, and I’m so thankful I get to be a part of this work. I [can] see the impact this collective group of women is having in the lives of foster children in Alabama, and I knew God was showing me, ‘This is your place.’”
Julie has also helped in other ways, including cleaning toys for our annual Camp of Champions, as well as taking items home to wash and get them ready for children coming into our care.
There are so many ways to make a difference for hurting kids. Not everyone is called to foster, but everyone can do something. Julie is one example of how you can do something to help. To learn more about how you can help children in foster care, visit here.