Want to Build a Trauma-Informed Foster and Adoptive Ministry?

The foster and adoptive community desperately needs the church community. And they need the church community to understand children from hard places and the unique joys and challenges when parenting them.

Get Your Church Involved

Start a Ministry

Develop a Foster/Adoptive Ministry That is Trauma-Informed

The Church has always been a powerful influence in families and relationships. But is your church actively engaged in supporting some of the most broken of families and relationships?

Help Meet the Need

The 2 most critical needs for parents and children

More Foster Families

We need more foster families and people who support foster kids, families of origin, and foster/adoptive families. Church ministries can recruit new people to foster or be in a supporting role. This is desperately needed so that all children have a loving, healing home.

More People in Support Roles

About half of foster families stop fostering within the first year due to isolation and lack of support. This is detrimental to the children living with those families. Church ministries can help retain foster families by providing support and understanding how kids with trauma need a different kind of parenting.

The Church can be the solution to both!

Why partner with Fostering Hope?

Resources to Get You Started

5 Areas of Need in Foster Care

Where can your church help? Read about the 5 needs.

Download

More Resources

For information and resources for ministry development contact:

Josh Owen

Join our next Ministry Interest Meeting

We want to help you get started in building a trauma-informed foster and adoptive ministry in your church.

Start a Ministry FAQs

Why is it so important for my church to get trauma-informed?

Because churches are a place of hope and healing and our children and families desperately need this. However, traditional approaches can actually further harm a child. We want our foster families to feel included in our church, not excluded nor judged because of their parenting strategies. Many trauma-informed parenting strategies and the latest brain science supports a church’s desire to build trusting relationships and increase compassion and grace. You may even find that trauma-education supports all areas of ministry!

What if my pastor isn't interested in partnering with this ministry?

We want to be respectful of church authority, so it’s important to have a conversation with your pastor understanding what obstacles are standing in the way. We would be happy to help you address any concerns. But even if your leadership is not fully on board, you don’t have to have a formal foster and adoption ministry to be ministering effectively to the foster and adoptive families in your church. Just gather a few people who are interested in supporting those families more intentionally. Present opportunities to your church’s leadership team as they become available. Sometimes seeing what is happening in other churches can help stoke the fires of your home church.

How can we get the rest of our church to understand our kids?

What is the financial obligation to partner with Fostering Hope?

We need financial support, but because we work with a variety of church sizes and locations, we leave it up to the church to determine what they can give. We present opportunities throughout the year: whether it is a request for drinks for AFAH Conference, or babysitting costs for an evening training, or the funding of an entire program. There is a wide variety of opportunities to support Fostering Hope.