Welcome to my new blog series, Foster Care Fridays. To start, I'm going to assume that you don't know anything about the foster care process. From our experience it has broken down into 6 steps:
Inquire
Orientation
25 hours of Impact training
Paperwork + Medical
Home Studies
Write up and Licensing
We started end of May and they say most are licensed within 6 months. We finished our training beginning of July. We thought we had finished the first round of paperwork, but we were wrong. We followed up a few weeks ago because we were anticipating scheduling home studies, to find out that they needed more from us and there was a wait list for home studies. I cried.
As far as the process goes, it's not hard. The training is thought and heart provoking, but not awful. The paperwork is just compiling everything that proves you are who you say you are and that you are a healthy, safe individual.
After completing our CPR certification last night, we sent off the last bit of paperwork. We are officially on the wait list for home studies. We don't know the time frame for waiting, but that's okay!
I share this because I want to explain something. I like control. I like structure. I like knowing what is happening. That's not foster care. This isn't like having a baby when you know there is a due date and you know you get a newborn. We don't know the timing. We don't know the case. We don't even know the age of the child. But we do know this... God loves that child. That child did nothing to deserve this. That child needs a safe place. That child needs Jesus. Just like me.
This process is teaching me that I am such a selfish person. I want my free time. I want my sleep. I want my comfort. That's not what God calls us to. God calls us to give preferential treatment to our neighbors. All of them. This is not our nature. This is definitely not my nature. I'm just thankful that God is moving. That God is here with us. That God is doing this, because this is so beyond my capacity and strength. I mean, paperwork gives me anxiety. It was too much. I made Tim do it. But that's another thing... this is showing me that God has a plan for my husband and my children in this too. This is what He has for them, not just me. (There's that selfish thing again.)
So, maybe you are reading this and thinking that foster care isn't for you. Well, it's not for me either. Its for these children and their families. It's for our neighbors. It's about laying down what you want for your life and following Jesus, but that's what He says do. I want to ask you to pray about it. Pray that God would give you a heart for it... for these mothers and babies and this system. That God would give you the courage and strength and faith... oh, the faith. I've realized that I have made more decisions in my life based on fear rather than faith, and this one... it's all faith and I praise God for giving it to me.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD." Isaiah 55:8