Micro Churches Reach out to Foster Families
When a network of micro churches in Oregon learned that there were 370 foster children in their area and just 120 parents caring for them, they wondered what they could do about it. And what they came up with was a new program to support foster parents.
The desire to reach out to foster families is an extension of the churches’ spiritual life in following the Bible’s admonition to care for the fatherless and orphans, Tim Wenger, The Hive’s Community Developer at Corvallis Hive Communities said.
They considered a campaign to recruit more foster parents, but knew foster parents often grow weary and quit. (Nationally, the turnover rate of foster parents ranges from 30 percent to 50 percent, John N. DeGarmo said in Foster Focus.)
In the end, The Hive came up with a plan to support those who are already fostering children. The group would hire one person full-time to serve a “pod” consisting of 12 of the 120 foster homes in their area.
The worker would spend time praying for the families, doing hands on work, such as delivering meals, cleaning, providing respite care and administrating. “But not the sitting behind a desk type administration,” Tim said. The administrative tasks are to be things like spending time out in the community recruiting businesses and individuals to get involved in serving and supporting foster parents.
The organization hired its first employee, Heidi Duret in March 2019 and what she is finding is that there are many in the community that want to get involved.
The group envisions such things as bed-and-breakfast owners offering to put a weekend stay in a resource “bank” to be enjoyed by a foster couple.
Heidi contacts her 12 families regularly and asks them, “What do you need this week?” It might be someone to help out with housework, meal on a Wednesday night or a night out without children.
The organization hopes eventually businesses and people in the community will donate things like free meal coupons, clothing vouchers, a set of tires or a night or two at a bed and breakfast for foster parents.
While paid staff in the new organization must be in agreement with the micro churches’ worker handbook, the group won’t turn down donations regardless of the religious beliefs of the giver, Tim Wenger said.
NEXT
