I remember seeing people going on mission trips overseas to help kids and thinking, I wish I could do that one day. Are you in that spot now? Just wishing, if only, I could go over there and help those children. What if I told you there are kids in your community that need just as much love and attention? The only thing with the kids here is they don’t have mission trips or the raised awareness. It is up to people in our community to raise awareness to help these kids and families. I want to take this time to explain a lot of various options and ways you can help the children and even adults in the mission field we have in America.
The number of children in the foster system is growing rapidly, while the number of open foster homes is actually decreasing. Some ways to help with this growing problem is; to provide support for foster families, collect items for foster children, love on case workers, open your home to these sweet children (if even just for the weekend), provide fun outings that they couldn’t normally do, or volunteer and get into the field.
There are so many ways to volunteer, become a CASA worker (help advocate for the children in court, NO, you don’t have to be a lawyer for this), or even help with Tennessee Kids Belong and the “Belong Project.” This project is a video shoot for children to help them search for their forever family. They ask for clothing donations and they need people to help organize these events, along with the props for the shoots, and helping with set up and clean up. This is the best way for parents looking for children to get to see, relate, and fall in love with these children. To find out more about this you could go to tnkidsbelong.org and click get involved. Becoming a CASA worker is another way to volunteer. You just need some training classes to start. CASA workers are used for another layer of support and advocate for the children and even foster parents. We have a CASA worker on one of our cases and she has been the biggest help/ supporter. She has always truly showed the best interest for the kids and has driven hours to come see them on bad days. If you are retired or just see yourself having extra time think about signing up or just looking into being a CASA worker.
Tennessee Baptist Children’s home is a wonderful organization in Brentwood, TN with locations in West and East Tennessee as well. This is a nonprofit Christian based foster organization. They have a location with six cottages on the property that houses anywhere from 4-10 kids. With being in homes, with so many other children they don’t get to go out and eat or enjoy a lot of fun activities. We have met some amazing kids that have never drive go carts or played laser tag. Watching their reaction for the first time is amazing. If you partner together with your life group you could take out a cottage of children for dinner and a fun outing without spending a ton . Doing this once or twice a year can really make a difference in these kids’ lives. Some of these kids live close to their families and are able to go home a lot where others might live hours away from family or might not have family to go home to. For the ones that can’t go home they ask families to open their homes to let kids get away and experience some family life and just get some one on one attention. Scott and I have been able to let six children come to visit us through this program and we have loved every second of it.
Another fantastic way to help out its to love on and help out the social workers that help make everything happen. It is such a reward to be involved in foster care and be able to love on these kids, but it can take a lot out of you physically and emotionally. Having such a strong support group is such an important thing. Foster care is so up and down there are times that you feel like you just need support/ prayers every single day. I just recently started talking to a woman and she has been my biggest encourager and it has made this journey so much smoother and less lonely. I also have a few of my friends that just call and check on us periodically to see how everything’s going, and how they can be thinking and praying for us. My dad and God Mother have been there to help watch the kids when we need to go to meetings, classes, court dates, or just one kid needs both of our attention. So I ask can you be that person for one of the foster families. Do you have a night to offer babysitting assistance to make sure the foster parents are keeping themselves strong and close? Foster parents do a lot of hands on, but these children’s case workers and therapist do so much behind the scene stuff. They work long hours away from their families fully supporting these children. I know a lot of the case workers we have worked with feel worn out and in turn they don’t have the energy to do extra. These workers are doing so much for the kids like finding placement options, enrolling in school, setting up medication appointments, and running around Tennessee to see their children. These workers need letters of encouragement, food to give them energy and just shown love and to feel appreciated.
There are always donations needed in foster care. I have talked to one of my friends who is a case worker in Wilson County and she has let me know that they are always needing food and little bags for older girls. When kids enter the system they can be stuck at the DCS office for hours while finding and setting up their placement. They need food to be able to feed these children. They also get teenage girls that might need bags of feminine products, shaving cream, maybe even nail polish, hair brush, things that makes them feel special. I know as a foster mom we try and make sure all of the kids in our home has luggage that they don’t have to carry their belongings in a garbage bag. This causes the kids to feel like they have something to take with them and we want to take every negative feeling away from them that we can, they are already going through so much.
Of course the big way to help is to let these kiddos in your home. Yes, it is a lot of time and work but every one of these kids deserves a chance. Without good foster parents these children are more likely to head down some dark paths in life. All of this because of something that happened to them when they were kids that they had no control over. If you don’t feel like you can bring kids in permanently what about for a weekend? One of the biggest needs is for respite homes. This is to allow the foster parents sometime to recharge and maybe to invest in their marriage. There is no much alone time while fostering, so, it is important to get away every now and again to make sure you are keeping your strength. Without respite homes this isn’t possible.
I pray that if God is speaking to you about stepping out and helping in any of these things he will give you peace and courage and you will follow his path. I am always available for any questions and support.
Love you all,
Kristina
Our Fostering mission 