Serving in the foster care ministry from 2013 until 2021, it has been observed that there are many blessings and challenges. For example, the experience of loss when a child leaves the foster home to get reunified with their birth parents or placed with another family member. A foster family has given this child love and care, then to see the child removed and coupled with the fear of the unknown may be one of the biggest excuses for why families choose not to get involved with the foster care ministry.
This fear of losing a child that has been in the home and loved by the family is a real issue. Even with this sense of loss, there is a sense of obedience to Jesus and of helping to achieve what is said by James 1:27, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” (NIV). However, there are some basic values that can help families be effective in this ministry.