Mission Makers
In 2017, Paul Berry retired from a long career in financial planning with plans to travel and play lots of golf. A few days later, he and his wife became the foster parents of three of their grandchildren. During their experience being full-time caregivers for their grandchildren, they struggled finding resources to help them navigate the foster care system. Berry began to realize that if they, as family members, were having difficulty figuring out what was available that it was probably hard for others as well. He came to realize there was a great need for coordination of services and in 2021 founded Foster Coalition which unites government agencies, foster organizations, and churches to provide collaborative services to the foster care community. Foster Coalition has three main goals:
1. To supply tools for churches to establish effective, sustainable foster care ministries via Promise 686 (www.promise686.org).
2. To provide education through in person and virtual meetings, workshops and conferences, email newsletters, and by maintaining a resource database on the Foster Coalition website.
3. To utilize media – television, radio, social media – and produce nine one-hour documentaries to air on Alabama Public Television all with the focus on presenting a positive image of foster children.
What is the problem in foster care and how does Foster Coalition plan to help solve it? Children need security to thrive, and that security should come through consistency of care when those kids are placed in the foster system. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. 30-50% of foster parents nationally step down within their first year (www.brookings.edu) and DHR caseworker turnover in Alabama is at 54% as of August 2022 (www.al.com). There is a tremendous need for long-term foster parents, volunteers, and mentors in the foster care community.
How can you be a part of the solution? Without your support, nothing is going to change for foster kids and families. Here are three ways you can partner with Foster Coalition and become part of the solution:
- Pray. Among the things that you can do, prayer is the most important. Pray for foster parents, workers, mentors, and support people to be called and willing to step up. Pray for people’s hearts to be moved to support the foster community.
- Act. If you have a passion for the foster community, consider how you might be able to put that passion into action. Are you interested in finding out more about having a foster care ministry in your church? Are you interested in mentoring or becoming a support person?
- Give. People like you with a heart and passion for foster care are the ones who make Foster Coalition’s work possible. Your financial gifts allow Foster Coalition to connect parents and workers with resources; to create and provide training materials for parents, workers, and support persons; and more.
To learn more about Foster Coalition, visit fostercoalition.org or call 205-490-1545. †
