Foster and Adoption 2020 | Generosity Story

Jennifer Decker:
I grew up in an adoptive family and I remember my family feeling really isolated in the church. Maybe people didn't understand the challenging journey that this was, and so having experienced that has given us the insight to support the foster adoptive families here at Westside Family Church.

Jennifer Decker:
When I think about all that has gone on this past year for foster and adoptive families here at Westside, I'm overwhelmed at even how to summarize it in a concise way, because it has been incredible. We started in February with the RE: Conference, which is a conference for foster and adoptive parents. It attracted almost 750 parents, and they came for a weekend of encouragement, training. But what they left with was the sense of knowing they're not on this journey alone and that someone sees them and that there are other people walking the same path, which is incredible. Then almost immediately after that, we were hit with COVID and all of our ministry plans kind of went up in the air for the year. We really didn't know what was going to happen, but pretty quickly, we started realizing that our families were going to need a different type of support than what we've provided in the past.

Jennifer Decker:
Families who'd agreed to take in sibling groups, weren't planning on these children being home all day, five days a week for virtual school. They weren't planning on not being able to get to therapy appointments or to the grocery store or for the court system to be delayed. So we got to really step in and offer support in those spaces where they were really desperate for some help. It included making sure each family had the groceries they needed. In fact, we were able to reach out to agencies and just ask, "What are the families that are going to be most affected by this shutdown?" And they gave us a list and we said, we'll take those off your list. We will call those families. We checked in with them every couple of weeks, made sure they had diapers if they needed them, toilet paper, milk. There was a family that requested a bicycle, and those were hard to find and in short supply this year, and we were able to get that family of bicycle, which was just amazing.

Jennifer Decker:
One of the things we've done in the last year is we've hired Jenny Venning. She's a licensed social worker and she is here to oversee all of our foster adoption partnerships. In fact, she trains A2 communities to meet the needs of families year round.

Jenny Venning:
This year, we've really had to stretch and bend in how we support our foster and adoptive families. We didn't expect any of this, just like none of you expected this. Our A2 groups have really stepped in to support foster and adoptive families and just meet them where they need support the most. When families decide that they want to become foster parents, they never expect that they would be virtual schooling their kids for most of the year. And some of our care communities have stepped in. They have brought meals every week to families, they have picked up laundry, taken it home, washed it, folded it, and brought it back to the family. One of the families that we serve has been in quarantine multiple times this fall and winter. And luckily they already had a care community in place who was able to step in and just help them when they needed it the most.

Jennifer Decker:
This year, we raised almost $55,000 to go directly to gifts for children in group homes, foster families, and the social workers that serve them, letting them know they are seen and not forgotten this Christmas.

Jenny Venning:
This is really near and dear to my heart as I was in their shoes in the past, working in foster care and really the social workers, most of them feel like they are called to do the job that they do. And just for us to be able to send them a card with a note and a gift card to Starbucks or to Amazon, I think it just really makes their day, and they're able to feel that this church that I don't even attend, these people see me. They care about me and want to help me. In Westside, I just think that that's an amazing thing that we're able to do for these social workers.

Jennifer Decker:
We even had a gingerbread house contest that we took straight to the family's homes and each family got dinner. They got a gingerbread house. They had an evening of fun family activity provided to them. So even when we had to cancel their Christmas party, we were able to deliver a meaningful family experience that left them feeling like their church saw them. Westside, you were a part of this. Thank you.

Speaker 3:
You helped make these blessings possible through your faithful giving. Thank you.