Watering the Soil
Chosen for Life Ministries fully believes that not everyone can become a foster parent or adopt a child, but we are all called to care for the vulnerable. Our hope is for everyone to find a role they can play in meeting the needs within our community. Through our Foster Care Initiative, we equip local churches to develop sustainable ministries that serve vulnerable children and families. One aspect of this initiative is the Care Team Model. A Care Team is a team of people that serve one foster family as they are caring for a child who needs a safe, loving home. One of our volunteer church Advocates, who is also a foster parent, shared this message with a new care team that was beginning to serve a family within her church:
“They will have moments they feel it’s too much. They will love these girls and will enjoy every second they can as a family. Our job now is to support and motivate [this family] who is able to open their homes and hearts to children in need. Never forget they are doing something most of us couldn’t. But what we can do is love, pray, engage, listen, and help them. Your support will keep them going. Your support is bigger than you can imagine. Your support makes this journey manageable.”
Care Teams are watering the soil as families are opening their homes to care for children. These families need consistent support and encouragement as they walk through many hard seasons with the children they are caring for.
Megin Mannheimer, a Care Team Leader for a local foster family, offers even more insight into what it has meant to find a tangible role for their family. Megin says, “We have four young kids so we weren’t prepared to foster, but really wanted to invest in other people the way so many have invested in us. We learned about care teams at Chosen for Life’s Banquet and that felt like a perfect fit for our family. Rather than feeling overwhelming, it just felt like we would be making new friends.”
The kids that are a part of the foster family her family is serving were 11 and 13 when they first joined the Care Team. Megin and her family invited them over to play after school and they all rode bikes and jumped on the trampoline, where it all felt “easy, fun, and important.” At the end of the afternoon they asked when they were coming back and even began to cry. At that point, Megin “refused to be one more person for them to wonder about” and decided to show up every single Tuesday, figuring out the rest as they went along. Sometimes they do the same things every week like eating dinner together and riding bikes. They also do special dinners to celebrate birthdays, decorate cookies at Christmas, or go together to baseball games. She says,
“The Tuesday happenings are never anything extraordinary, but no matter what, we keep showing up. The best things have happened over the last year and half. My kids know every Tuesday is a playdate that will end with dessert. I realized the kids getting to know each other is the magic ingredient in connecting and earning trust. They play with each other with no agenda - no one is trying to correct or improve or dissect, they’re just trying to capture the flag. lt is the purest of intentions among them, and as I observe, I hope I can follow their example.”
At Chosen for Life, we often tell people that there is a role for everyone! While not one of us individually can solve the crisis within our community, we can all play a role to display Christ’s love to others. You can bring a meal to a foster family, so they can spend their evening focusing on relationships in their family. You can become a mentor like Megin and her family by opening your home and showing up to give consistency and love to children as they experience the foster care system. You can help lead a ministry at your church that equips others to serve.
Giving a financial gift to Chosen for Life Ministries is one role that anyone can play.
Through your giving, you are allowing our ministry to reach more children and families in the ways described above.