Care Communities

It Started With One Connection

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:5–6 (NIV)

In one West Virginia county, a young man had been in and out of foster care for much of his life. His experience highlights the importance of strong support for young adults aging out of foster care. At age 17, the family he was living with established legal guardianship. At the time, this seemed like a positive outcome as it was considered permanency. But shortly after his 18th birthday, this family fell apart, and the legal guardianship essentially failed.

When Permanency Fell Apart

As a result, this young adult found himself alone, homeless, unemployed, and broke. His legal guardianship meant he could not access many of the resources normally available to young adults aging out of foster care. Without these supports, his situation seemed hopeless.

Sometimes, a community that shows up begins with just one trusted connection.

One Trusted Connection

At that time, this young man reached out to the only trusted adult in his life. A foster alum herself, she had previously mentored him and helped with transportation through a local support program for teens in foster care.

Soon after, she connected him to a couple at a local church that had a Family Advocacy Ministry. Together, they worked step by step to help him achieve independence.

Different People Brought Different Things

They first found him a safe place to stay temporarily, rent free, in a building owned by the local Methodist conference. During that time, they helped him determine his eligibility for state and federal resources. Then, they helped him navigate the process to secure those resources.

They also helped him find employment and secure clothes and everyday supplies. They found him a bicycle so he could get to work. In addition, they helped him obtain important paperwork, including his Social Security card. Eventually, he moved into an apartment of his own. They helped furnish it with household items from a local estate liquidation.

No one person had everything he needed, but each person brought something.

Supporting Young Adults Aging Out of Foster Care

This young man continues to connect with a group of foster alumni through a nearby university. (This campus organization is also supported by that local church and their Family Advocacy Ministry.) He has built a trusting relationship with the couple he first met at the local church and visits the woman who connected all of them on a weekly basis for dinner with her family. They are essentially his extended family.

Strong community, local connections and the support of one local church made it possible for this young man to take his next steps forward. He is now doing well, living independently and is surrounded by a caring and supportive community anchored in the local church.

This story shows how trusted relationships and strong communities can make a difference for young adults aging out of foster care.

A strong community can begin with one connection. Could your church be part of that kind of support for vulnerable children and families?

Learn how Family Advocacy Ministry helps churches organize their people to show up in practical, meaningful ways.

SEE HOW YOUR CHURCH CAN SHOW UP

One Church. One Family. One Step at a Time

Summer is a beautiful season! It’s a time of sunshine, fruitfulness, and abundant life. I’m always grateful to see the flowers in bloom and trees with full green leaves. In late summer, we enjoy fruits and vegetables that were planted much earlier. It’s easy to forget that, not long ago, those trees were bare, and what is now ready to harvest started with just a tiny seed.

Family Advocacy Ministry and healthy community can be much the same. It’s fun to see a ministry in full bloom and a thriving community in action, but it’s important to remember that it all starts with one willing heart and one small step forward.

Toddler takes first steps with help from an adult, illustrating how Family Advocacy Ministry helps churches support children and families.

A Small Beginning

A few years ago, I took a call from an adoptive mother in Morgantown who was curious to know what it might look like to start a foster care-related ministry at her church. She had a passion to show the love of Jesus to vulnerable children through foster care and adoption. She also hoped to share the great need surrounding foster care in West Virginia with those in her congregation and give them the opportunity to serve.

Eager to learn, she connected with our team at The Village for training and an introduction to the Family Advocacy Ministry model. The model gave her a framework for the idea the Lord had put on her heart. Soon, she invited a friend to come alongside her on the ministry journey. Before long, both women completed FAM Advocate training and were ready to formally launch their ministry.

With the blessing and support of their pastor, they planned an event, ordered some Chick-fil-a breakfast, and invited their congregation to learn about foster care and how the church can help through Family Advocacy Ministry.

Starting with One Family

They started small. It wasn’t a big production or a whole lot of fanfare, just a few volunteers committed to providing wraparound support for one foster family in their community. They planted a small seed that day, and now it has bloomed into something beautiful!

A Community That Shows Up

Fast forward a couple of years, and that church is still faithfully engaged. The advocate who first called me a few years earlier is now fostering four children, along with two others that they had previously adopted. She and her husband have grown tremendously both as foster parents and as advocates. When they have the opportunity, they also encourage biological parents, caseworkers, and the siblings of their foster placements. Her dear friend, the church’s second advocate, has organized a supportive Christ-centered community around their family. This care community allows others within the church to be a part of their foster journey as they provide prayer, spiritual encouragement, meals, babysitting, and extra hands as needed.

Foster families need support around them to lighten the load, and children thrive when they are surrounded by a loving Christ-centered community! No one person can do everything, but a strong community is built when different people simply bring what they can and show up where they are needed.

Do What We Can

Their pastor continues to be a strong advocate for local children and families and recently joined us to share with other pastors the motivation for this work at his church. As he explained, churches do not have to solve every problem or meet every need to make a meaningful difference:

“Jesus said of the woman who anointed his feet with costly ointment, ‘She has done what she could’ (Mark 14:8). I don’t believe God is calling any of our churches to address the whole state of West Virginia’s foster care need, but I do believe that God is calling each of us, and each of our churches, to do what we can.”

It’s beautiful to see the fruit the Lord has produced through this ministry over time, but it all started with one phone call, one conversation, and one small, faithful step.

Could Family Advocacy Ministry be a next step for your church?

Learn how FAM helps churches organize their people to care for vulnerable children and families in practical, meaningful ways.

SEE HOW FAM WORKS

Passing Through the Waters Together: FAMs Give Hope

A group of adults and children standing together in a shallow creek beneath a bridge in West Virginia, illustrating community support and how Family Advocacy Ministries support foster families with practical care and presence.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” Isaiah 43:2a

When a family steps out in faith and opens their home to foster care or adoption, they need to know they are not walking the journey alone! Family Advocacy Ministries, or FAMs, provide community, encouragement, and emotional and spiritual support for families when they need it the most. Stepping into foster care can feel like jumping into the rapids with a child who’s navigating waves of grief and uncertainty. A Christ-centered community offers hope amid the hard things and reminds families that God walks with them through difficult things and broken places. He is close to the broken-hearted and never leaves us alone in our pain.

In a recent interview with the Saidi family, Emily, a highly experienced foster and adoptive mother, described how her church community supported them as they navigated the difficult realities of foster care and adoption.

The Saidi’s story includes many highs and lows, including a tremendous loss when a little girl they were in the process of adopting passed away before she was ever fully transitioned to their home from a shelter. The family was comforted by their church community, and people who had never even met this little girl showed up for the Saidi family at her funeral.

While they were still processing this heartbreak, another precious child entered their story. In Emily’s own words:

“Not long after, we were contacted about another little girl, Shelby, from the same shelter. She has special needs and requires a lot of care and supervision. We didn’t know if we had what it took to care for her. Initially, I felt trapped in my house because Shelby would run off in public or fall to the floor and refuse to move. How could I live if I couldn’t go anywhere? My church and my care community sent me a specialty stroller for Shelby. That stroller was the difference between Shelby growing up in a shelter or being adopted by our family. It gave us hope. It reminded us we were not alone. It gave us the ability to live. Shelby was adopted this year, and we could not be more thrilled that she is an official Saidi.”

“That stroller was the difference between Shelby growing up in a shelter or being adopted by our family. It gave us hope. It reminded us we were not alone.”

The Saidi’s journey is a poignant reminder that when a church shows up with steady love and practical help, families can keep going and children can finally come home. In this case, it was a community of people who showed up during the hard times, and a special stroller that made all the difference, but everyone can do something! How might you and your church make a difference for a family in your local area? As we prepare for the holiday season, we are grateful for a loving God who loves us, sees us where we are, and meets us there. We celebrate the incarnation, God’s plan to send His son Jesus into the world to save us from sin and darkness. Our God saw us in our deepest need and He came towards us in the midst of our brokenness. Through foster care, adoption, and the ministry of the local church, we share in that same movement of God by stepping toward children and families in their need just as Christ first stepped toward us.

When the Church Answers the Call

Psalm 10:14 says, “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.”

That truth is seen every time the Church notices the pain of others and chooses to step in with compassion and care.

Not long ago, a foster family supported by their local West Virginia church faced a difficult moment late one evening with their teen. They tried to reach their agency and case team, but it was after hours and help was hard to find. The weight of the situation felt overwhelming. So they called a member of their Care Community for support and for someone to talk to. The phone was answered right away. Guidance was given, prayer was shared, and the encouragement they received gave them the strength and connection to make it through the night.

Later, the foster father said, “When you need help and support, the church picks up the phone at 10 p.m. on a Friday when no one else does.”

This is what it looks like when God’s people live out Psalm 10:14. The Church sees the trouble, considers the grief, and takes it in hand. Through encouragement, prayer, and presence, a foster family is reminded that they are not alone and that God truly sees them through His people.

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