How Can My Church be Involved in Foster Parent Ministry?

Darby Thompson, MSW | ABCH SOCIAL WORKER

Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH) has been blessed to care for children and families since 1891. Since the beginning, the church has come alongside and supported the Children’s Homes in many ways. I am frequently asked, ‘How can my church be involved in helping care for children placed in your foster care ministry?’ I am happy to answer, there are many ways that churches can partner with us.

PRAYER

Prayer is invaluable! Praying for foster parents and children sounds like one of the simplest tasks, but it is often overlooked. We desire for the Lord to be head of our entire ministry. Only through His touch can children and families be healed and true-life change occur. Our desire is for the Lord to be the Great Physician in the lives of the children and families we serve. We are greatly encouraged to know that brothers and sisters in Christ are beseeching the Lord on our behalf. It is such a blessing!

We believe our foster parents are called by God to open their hearts and homes to children from hard places. It is by no means an easy task and can truly be a difficult road to walk. There are many unknowns in foster care, and it can be an exceptionally hard journey. As Christians, we can lift foster parents up in prayer. We can pray for the strength and wisdom for foster parents as they walk this road. We can pray for the children in their home—not only for their physical and emotional health, but also their spiritual health. We can pray for these children to see the Gospel displayed through their foster parents.

We are beyond grateful for prayers and the comfort that they bring.

ENCOURAGEMENT

Another means of partnering with us as a church is by offering encouragement. We often hear foster parents say that being foster parents can be a lonely journey. Many times, they feel that other people do not understand the challenges they face because those challenges can be unique to foster care. Though that may be true to an extent, as the church, we can take time to encourage foster parents.

This can be as simple as starting a card ministry of mailing letters of encouragement to foster parents. An unexpected note of encouragement can mean a lot!

SUPPORT

Assisting with a new foster care placement by providing clothes, diapers, toys, or gift cards is a wonderful way for the church to be involved. A meal ministry could be very helpful for foster parents as well. The first few days of receiving a foster child in your home can be full of appointments and adjustments. To take off the worry of cooking dinner is a simple way to help support a foster family.

Some churches choose to offer a Foster Parent Night Out. This allows foster parents to have a night out or some special time with their biological children. Talk about a blessing! One church in our area offers a date night to foster parents, and they even provide a gift card to a local restaurant. Church members in turn, care for the foster children for three hours on a Friday night. They provide pizza to the children and invest time in getting to know them. It has been a win for everyone participating.

Another big way to support foster parents is to offer to babysit. It can often be hard for foster parents to find babysitters. Sometimes foster parents may find it hard to ask someone to babysit. Foster parents deserve a break and a time to get away to be renewed. A church could have a list of families that may be willing to babysit for the foster parents in their church.

ACTS OF SERVICE

Lastly, acts of service are a wonderful way for the church to serve our foster parents. These can be one-time acts or ongoing ways to serve. Hosting an old-fashioned pounding by collecting needed items for our foster care homes is a great way to serve many of our parents at one time. Items such as paper goods, hygiene items, or food for the pantry are always useful.

There are other ways to serve too. We’ve seen church members choose to provide a car wash for families or help with lawn care.

WE CAN ALL HAVE A ROLE

We often hear the phrase, “Not everyone is called to foster, but everyone can do something”. There is so much truth in that statement. We can all play a role in the life of a child from hard places. We can assist foster families and children in indirect and some direct ways. We often hear that many foster parents say that they feel lonely. As the church, we can support and encourage foster parents to help them continue to best serve children in foster care.

Darby Thompson began serving as an ABCH Social Work Aide in 2016 and since 2021 as a Foster Care Social Worker in our Dothan office.