Foster children age out of the system at age 12.
2,736 children and teens live in juvenile residential facilities in our state.
8,020 children are in foster care.
About 1,000 of those are adopted.
(Statistics from here.)
Children in a nearby children's home are there because they were homeless, abandoned or removed from their families by court order.
This information alone should challenge me.
Us.
Us.
The truth is that we hear statistics all the time.
They bring feelings of empathy, but life keeps moving and
the feeling passes.
They bring feelings of empathy, but life keeps moving and
the feeling passes.
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| Recently though, in honor of Valentine's Day, 34 big hearted families took the time to focus on 34 foster kids. A sweet friend coordinated the sewing of handmade bags, and then those bags were filled with love by each family. |
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| They took great care to pack fun things for teenage girls |
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| and for the teenage boys. These bags were fun to do, and easy to buy for. Our hope for them though is bigger. Our hope is that each child who found one outside their door on February 14th felt loved. Loved by a stranger and a Father in heaven. Our hope is that the bags will be the start of learning to serve foster children more frequently and in deeper ways. |
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| Our hope is that all the children who helped pack the bags will grow up with hearts for the fatherless everywhere. |
Thanks to everyone for participating
in this project with such love and generosity.
in this project with such love and generosity.
Ahem. And we may or may not have had a
little fun with hand sewn bags before filling them up.
little fun with hand sewn bags before filling them up.
Sack races anyone?
5 comments:
I stopped in from MTR, and stayed for a little while to read your adoption story.
I just had to say you are a living testimony of faith, compassion and generosity in these times when those things seem so rare.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Age out at 12! My heart hurts.
These bags look great! What a really good idea. i was wondering what you mean by kids aging out by the age of 12?
You rock!! Count me in on your next project!!
rebecca, this is a great idea. and i can't remember if i commented on your post about the care package for the homeless (i read it on my iPhone, so it's harder to comment) but that was a fantastic idea as well. i forwarded it to our church leaders as an idea for a 'serve first' project - the service project we do at the beginning of each month. i'm going to send this one to them as well.
i love seeing people in the international adoption community joining forces with the domestic foster care/adoption world too. there isn't any reason why it has to be "either/or" like some make it out to be. i think this is changing though, which is awesome!
many blessings to you!
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