Wrapping Around Families: Church and Counseling Support
Every Wednesday night, families bustle in from their cars and scatter across various buildings to get to their respective classes on the campus of The Church at Brook Hills. For those tucked away in Modular 16, something really special happens. Foster families across Birmingham receive support and counsel here, and for many, this turns the course of a child’s, and their family’s, direction.
According to Anita Bucher, who coordinates the Foster Care Ministry Team at Brook Hills, the Wednesday night Support Group started in the fall of 2013. So far, they have ministered to 52 families in fourteen churches, and many of those are parents who foster with ABCH.
“Before that time, we had been supporting our foster families in various ways for four years (offering childcare vouchers for parents going through GPS training, providing meals, furniture, diapers, toys, clothes, and prayer support). But we recognized that our families needed opportunities to come together in a safe place to share their challenges and to seek solutions from people who ‘get it,’” said Anita.
“When we started the Support Group, we met two times each month. After two months, the foster parents said that the time together was so encouraging and refreshing that they wanted to meet every week. We also schedule speakers and topics that equip our families and provide CEUs.” (Continuing Educations Credits; every foster parent needs 15 hours annually to keep their license to foster.)
Foster parents routinely tell Anita that they couldn’t foster without the love and support of this group. Two of those parents, Erin and Tim Lott, who foster with ABCH, have greatly benefitted from this time. Erin says, “I'm not sure we would still be fostering if it were not for the Foster Care Support Group at Brook Hills. Foster parenting is a different type of parenting, and it is essential to come together often to encourage and support each other.”
Anita says that some of the greatest wisdom that is shared in the room comes from the parents and how the Lord uses their individual journeys to speak into each other. And for what the parents aren’t able to offer, many experts do. Pathways directors and counselors, Lisa Keane and Kristin Lowrey, are regular speakers at these meetings.
Lisa shares of the experience, “Working with the Foster Parent Support Group at Brook Hills is a huge honor and privilege. We get to meet with foster parents who are on the front lines of providing healing care for children in the system. Sharing evidence-based strategies for dealing with behavior, teaching techniques to help a child accept love, and listening to foster parents as they grieve the loss of a child that has returned home, are all ways we have had the privilege to nurture these foster parents so that they in turn, can best nurture the kids in their care.”
“Tim and I look forward to the times when Lisa and Kristin join us,” said Erin, “And during those times, they have helped change my internal script as a mom (biological, adoptive, and foster). On the difficult days, I can hear them in my head reminding me: he is so precious . . . I could be setting the bar too high with this child . . . I have to connect with my kids before I correct them . . . we need to have fun together today, and so many other valuable reminders.”
In addition to sharing their professional insights, Anita says that the patience and wisdom of our Pathways counselors with any and all questions parents have shared, is so valuable as well. “Parents love that they can go home and immediately put into practice the things Lisa and Kristin have shared. They tell me that they’ve seen positive results after implementing changes in the way they handle sensory issues, behavioral difficulties, and that they are always encouraged when they leave Modular 16 on Wednesday nights. They are thankful for the incredible resources and people who support them.”
In addition to this kind of service in Birmingham, our Pathways counselors regularly support parents and children all across Alabama. Learn more at pathwaysprofessional.org