Fostering Communities

Fostering Communities works to shift the landscape of foster care to include the whole community. We recognize the holistic support of foster parents and the children in their homes leads to healthier and more successful foster care outcomes.

For churches, it’s important to shift our understanding of foster care from a place of “there’s a need or an issue to solve” to making foster care our local mission field. There are numerous avenues through which any church community can support, love, and care for foster families and the children in their care.

There is also the responsibility to offer support to birth families who often haven’t experienced a positive support network. Church communities have the opportunity to live out their faith as the hands and feet of Jesus by serving and loving people on the edges of our society. This holistic support provides a positive and encouraging community for parents who are dealing with the shame and hurt of having children removed from their home.

Fostering Communities partners with churches by:

• Providing a key Crossnore staff member to be your church’s point of contact throughout this process.
• Educating your church on the impact of trauma to one’s emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual health, and how to build trauma resiliency within your congregation.
• Guiding your church leadership and body to develop a sustainable support structure to meet the needs of foster children and parents in your congregation and community.
• Training and licensing families who are interested in becoming trauma resilient foster parents.
• Supporting your congregation with ongoing consultations and coaching as you re-frame or expand your local missions to include supporting foster children and families.
• Overseeing a smooth process for any foster placement that may become a forever home for a child through adoption.