The Journey: PCA Parent Podcast
Kids & Family:Parenting
Parents, this is more of a call to prayerful action than an informational podcast episode - we get to hear the inspirational story of Tim and Kati Matthews, both staff members at Prestonwood Baptist Church and parents to three PCA lions. The Matthews have a moving and powerful story of God opening their hearts, through some difficult circumstances, to the idea of foster care and/or adoption. After giving birth to two biological daughters, that desire to adopt actually became a reality for the Matthews family as they welcomed J.J. into their family as their son. Listen as Tim and Kati share about the opportunities and challenges of adoption and the call to obedience to be available for God to use as He sees fit.
To find out more about fostering and/or adoption, check out the CHOSEN Ministry at Prestonwood at their website ChosenforChildren.org. CHOSEN Ministry meets regularly at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. CHOSEN stands for: Christ’s Hope for Orphans: Supporting, Embracing, Nurturing. It is CHOSEN'S collective mission to raise awareness of the need for permanent families for orphan and foster children in the USA and abroad, while supporting families considering or who have already adopted, as an outreach ministry to engage people in the life and love of Jesus Christ through Prestonwood Church.
For purposes of providing a framework to understand foster care and adoption, currently more than 11,000 foster children are currently in foster care throughout the DFW Metroplex, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. However, there are only about 7,000 licensed foster homes, which leaves almost one-third of children in state care without a domestic setting to call home.
From the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website:
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) oversees all foster care standards and requirements. These are some of the basic requirements for potential foster parents; find a complete list here.
3+ WAYS TO HELP FOSTER PARENTS—WITHOUT FOSTERING
Being a foster family might not be for everyone, but there is something almost anyone in our community can do to help kids in need. Here are three ways to support foster families:
Another interesting note - The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reports that 6,397 sibling groups in the state of Texas are currently in foster care. Of those, 33.8% of them are not placed together. The multiple losses a child experiences when entering foster care is compounded by the unexpected loss of sibling separation. As one foster care alumni shared, “Being separated from my entire life was bad enough but being separated from my siblings is still painful.”
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