Dare to Care: A Cristian Response to Foster Parenting

A myriad of tragedies assaults our eyes and ears daily...parents arrested in a drug bust, children found locked in a closet, a single mom killed in an accident, a neighbor arrested for incest. But what happens to the children involved? Usually they are whisked off into the care of overburdened Child Protective Services. While sometimes a grandparent or other relative steps in, often these uprooted kids join the more than half a million others in foster care. Some stay for the week-end. Some stay for 15 years. Ideally each foster home placement would match the child's needs, but with the dearth of caring people willing open their hearts and homes to these hurting kids, usually it's 'any port in time of storm' and they are placed wherever there is an empty bed. What an opportunity we Christians are missing! Jesus admonishes us to care for His lambs, and who, better than Christians, know the power of unmerited love? Our lack of involvement isn't because we don't care; it's because we view them as statistics, not as distressed children. DARE TO CARE introduces some of the more than 70 children the author and her husband cared for during their 28 years as foster parents, and they will become real, hurting , needy children. Some stories have a happy ending; many do not because Foster Care doesn't have a lot successes. But in every case, Christians have an opportunity to show God's love when it is so desperately needed. Some families (even singles) can take children into their homes but the book also lists opportunities for those who cannot, to be involved. We can all put a band-aide on a hurting child. It is a challenge and an opportunity for the Church to DARE TO CARE.