Did You Know?
The infographic above features some alarming numbers regarding the amount of children in foster care. On any given day there are nearly half a million children in foster care in the United States. The plan for just more than 50% of these children is to be reunited with their biological families. That means nearly 200,000 children are waiting to be adopted or will simply age out of foster care, where they will be legally homeless and immediately set up for failure (more on this later).
Alabama has more than 6,000 children in foster care today. Each child will spend on average nearly 2 years in foster care. The goal, of course, is for reunification with their biological families. In 2019, 38% of foster children who exited care were reunited with their birth parents. 33% of children who exited care went to live with a relative. The adoption rate was 18% for foster children adopted out of care. 9% of foster children exited care by aging out or emancipation.
Given the length of time and the high number of children in foster care in Alabama, we need many foster homes and services to serve these children. According to Alabama Department of Human Resource’s website, we have less than 2,300 foster homes in the state. With this amount of homes that would mean every foster home would have to have a minimum of 2 foster children to provide care for all of Alabama’s children. For many of our foster families, this just is not possible. We need more families to better serve our foster children. More than anything, we need more godly families who are able to model Christ’s love to children who have not experienced much love in their lives.
Over the years, we have been blessed to serve many of these children. Whether it has been by welcoming them into our homes, having them at Camp 1:27, providing clothing or other resources, or preparing them for life after foster care, we have had the opportunity to share Christ with them as we Live the Gospel by Loving the Fatherless.
How can you serve the fatherless in your life? Will you prayerfully consider becoming a foster parent? Or maybe even an adoptive parent? Our children need you.