St. Joseph Foster Care Program (Coming Soon)

• Taking care of the orphan is a fundamental teaching of the Catholic faith.
• Being a foster/adoptive parent for children in the CPS system is very difficult. Children are often older. Regardless of age, they also often have mental, emotional, psychological and/or physical challenges. Many have siblings also needing care and they wish to be together.
• Children in foster care move on average three times because the foster family is not adequately prepared to care for them. Moving and inconsistent care can add to the trauma experienced in the original abusive environment.
• It takes a village to raise any child, but especially children who have experienced trauma. There are many roles and ways we can wrap a foster child and their families – biological, foster and adoptive — in a nurturing network of support.

Being a foster parent is a special calling, similar to God’s call to people to be a “forever” parent, or to the vocation of marriage.

Not everyone has this calling to be a foster parent, and sometimes people find themselves moved to be a foster parent later in life.

Regardless, by our baptism, each of us is called to love our neighbor and to serve one another with a spirit of generosity. Therefore, each of us has a role to play in supporting foster parents.

This resource kit offers practical ways for a parish to discern how it can be a community of support and love for children in the foster care system and their families, both foster and biological.

Each parish has a unique set of gifts and challenges which must be honored as parishioners discern their engagement.

Even after news reports of children sleeping on office floors, or worse, their tragic deaths, Texas’ foster crisis continues. We need more foster parents ready to serve God’s children who are caught in the state’s beleaguered child welfare system. It would be so simple if Christians heard the Scripture’s call to “let the children come unto me” and opened their homes to the thousands of children needing safe families. But fear and circumstance hinder many of us from answering this call.

As Paul reminds the Romans in today’s second reading, God’s promise to Abraham was not fulfilled by the law, but by faith. God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah seemed preposterous: they were elderly and had no children. Yet God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us when Joseph learned of Mary’s pregnancy, he intended to divorce her quietly and leave the child fatherless. Despite being a righteous man, taking on the care of a child that was not “his” was more than he could bear. The angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream telling him, “Do not be afraid.” Through Joseph’s courage, he became our Lord’s foster father; he became the protector of Jesus and Mary. Later, another angel tells Joseph, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Egypt.” Through obedience to God, Joseph shielded our Lord and our Blessed Mother from Herod’s wickedness.

As the foster children of Texas wait, we must have the courage to heed this same message: “Do not be afraid.” Yes, the needs of these children are many, and you may not feel adequate. Let’s be honest, you probably aren’t. Abraham and Sarah probably felt the same way. But just as God promised Abraham and Sarah the seemingly impossible, so does he promise, through our parish today, the support and resources to help you. Like the magi who brought gifts to the Holy Family, ministries and non-profits stand ready to assist you in providing for the needs of these children. While we may not experience angelic dreams calling us to action, foster children in Texas need us to be attentive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit telling us to rise up and take care of these beloved children. Will you consider the call?

March 19
Feast of St. Joseph, patron of foster parents

April
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Last Sunday in April: Blue Sunday (National Day of Prayer for Victims of Child Abuse)

May
Month of Mary, Mother of God
National Foster Care Month
Mother’s Day
National HELP (Honor, Encourage, Love and Pray for) Child Welfare Professionals Week

June
Father’s Day

July 26
Feast of Sts. Anne and Joachim, Jesus’ grandparents

October
Respect Life Month

November
National Adoption Month

December
Feast of the Holy Family