I hear so many people complaining about our social services system.
And I get it.
I do it too!
Right now our local branch is in the middle of a labour disruption and it is holding up the paperwork for our homestudy to be updated so we can pursue another adoption. I know God uses bureaucracy sometimes to keep things in His timeline, so I’m holding onto that hope but I also see a tainted system where personal agendas and budget cuts are preventing families and children from what is best for them right now.
There are so many things wrong. Sometimes it feels like the whole system needs to be reorganized and revamped! Most of the time we are playing catch up instead of preventing problems from arising.
However,
While I am very comfortable complaining alongside other foster and adoptive parents as well as social workers who are frustrated with the handcuffs of this system, I am not okay with people complaining about a system that they are doing nothing to improve.
The bottom line is that the system is in desperate need of more families who are committed to caring for kids, even when it costs them personally.
We need foster parents.
People who are willing to love hard, even when the goodbye is heart wrenching.
People who are willing to fight for families to be reunified if at all possible, putting in their own time and energy to build uncomfortable relationships when needed.
People who will open their doors to kids who push, pull and threaten their way through life because that is the only survival mode they are familiar with.
People who will show Jesus to both these kids and their biological families at some of their most broken and vulnerable moments.
People who will advocate strongly for better lives for these children while realizing that their perspective on the situation may be skewed.
We need people who will follow through and become a child’s permanent family if need be, but are committed first and foremost to reunifying a biological family.
We need adoptive homes.
People who are committed to sticking with a child for EVER. No matter what. No ifs, ands, buts. Just forever period.
People who are willing to go through the paperwork, the scrutiny, the headaches and the waiting time because they know that a child is worth all that times ten!
People who will restructure their lives to meet the needs of a child.
People to rise up and be parents to a lost and broken generation and usher them into the Household of Grace.
People who will believe in a God who redeems even the most broken…and realize that may be you, not the child you adopt.
People who will commit to laughter and joy in the journey, even when it gets hard.
People who will not shy away from the hard in a child’s story, but instead enter into that pain with them.
People who will be willing to enter into relationships today or someday down the road with birth family members.
We need churches, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers and neighbours that are willing to invest in a child’s life.
People that will not jump to hasty conclusions but instead offer grace and support.
People that will lend physical, financial, spiritual and emotional support when serving these kids leaves holes in hearts, homes and wallets.
People who will go the extra mile to make a child feel loved and accepted no matter where they are in life.
People who will pray for children, families and social workers in the system.
The best way to do something about it is to get involved and do your part to change the way things work! Chances are as you get involved you will see the answers are not as easy as they may have seemed from the outside.
There is no way to evade all the pitfalls when you are working with a broken family in a broken society.
I can’t wait to see the Church of Jesus Christ rise up and take back the work we were meant to do from the beginning.
Love.
Protect.
Heal.
Restore.
AF
Adoption, Mommyhood & the Rest 