Archive for February, 2009

The foster care licensing staff at Tacoma YFC is working with a diverse group of people who all have the same goal:  To follow “God’s Call” to serve children who need a home in foster care.  God calls foster parents to YFC from various personal histories:  law enforcement, doctors and nurses, teachers, other professionals, single moms, young couples,  pastors & youth workers, military chaplains, self-employed, real estate brokers, retired couples, etc.   This group of people at YFC includes Caucasians, Hispanics,  Jamaicans, African Americans, Native Americans  and families of various other mixed ethnicities who have come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord .  These families have responded to the strong awareness of God’s heart for children (as stated in James 1:27) which is for Christians “to look after orphans in their distress.”

As a family responds to God’s call for fostering, there are state requirements and federal requirements to follow and families can get bogged down in the process at different steps along the way by those requirements.   One family who applied in January of 2008 was slowed down for one year in their licensing process.  Finally on January 27, 2009, they were fully qualified.  The family and the licensing staff continued to pray for the foster child God had planned for them. The foster father has a medical career and the mother is an at home wife and mother.  The couple has two children born prior to 2005 and has a desire to foster an infant.  This family has a strong sense of family identity.  Each family member has a compassionate heart for infants and children in need.  

Just before the family was licensed for foster care, a medically fragile infant was born who was under the state’s custody and also was in the care of the medical team at Seattle’s Children Hospital.  A social worker from a sister agency contacted this particular family due to the father’s skills and knowledge in the medical field.  No pressure was placed on them to take this baby boy, and they were given time to talk over this decision.  They prayed over this decision and realized if the baby was not meant for their family they would feel led to say no.  In a short time, they realized they could not turn away even in the midst of the medical and schedule challenges.  This little son needed a family to belong to. They believe God wanted them to say yes.  The foster mother stated it is a wonderful a joy to have this precious baby boy in their family. Even in his great neediness he is so worthy of the love and devotion of the foster parents and their  children (who often smother baby with kisses). 

The most amazing thing in this story at this point is the timing of God that kept this medically knowledgeable couple available for this fragile baby boy through a process that seemed to be so immovably slow at the time.  It is now evident that the licensing process was slowed down for one of God’s greater purposes.

Proverbs 8:5, 6 tells God’s people that “the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure; for there is a proper time and procedure for every matter.”

If this is a time that God has put a call on your heart to help children in the foster care system, please give us a call at Youth for Christ Child Placing Agency. (253-572-7888)

Steven and Lois Hastings

Goofy and Bobby...or Bobby and Goofy--your choice!

When someone says “the happiest place on earth…” what comes to your mind?  I immediately think of Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Space Mountain–yep, that’s right, Disneyland! Especially since last week Jenelle and I took our three girls to Disneyland as a complete surprise. We woke them up at 6 a.m. on Monday and said, “Get dressed and hop in the van…we’re catching a plane for Disneyland!”  It proved to be a magical week, continue

My name is Kayleanna Escalante and I have been very familiar with Remann Hall (Pierce County Juvenile Court) and being locked up. I have a lot of experience with the police and none of it was good. I had been arrested three times for stealing, before I was eleven years old. When I turned twelve I actually got locked for the first time for assault 4 and Malicious Mischief. My criminal history folder is thick; thicker than any of my friends. When I would get locked up, I didn’t care – it had just become a thing to do for me. By the time I was sixteen, I had been locked up more than thirty times in Remann Hall. Finally when I was sixteen, I got sent up to Naselle Youth Camp to serve an eight month sentence for Assault, Theft and Fraud. At the time, I had been using drugs, involved and affiliated with gangs, regular thefts and assaulting others including police officers. I didn’t listen to anyone, including friends and especially adults. I only did whatever I wanted to and no one could tell me different.

            When I first met some volunteers from Youth for Christ, I did not like them. I would not listen, I was disruptive and they banned me from their chapel services because I would try to turn others against them. I would get out of jail and not really care and then I would get locked up again. Every time, I would see the YFC people there and they were always nice to me. Finally one of them, Charlotte would leave the classroom and come into our POD and talk to us. She seemed willing to do that and to listen to us even though she didn’t have to. She was real and it seemed like she really wanted to know us. Soon after that, I met another person names Chrisy and she smiled and played guitar and when she sang, I really felt a release inside. I love music and it hit me and my walls that I had put up began to come down. After that I began to attend chapel and learn a lot each time. I usually brought all the other girls from my POD to chapel.

             The volunteers from YFC were so nice and they listened to me and then would give me advice. I listened because I knew they cared and respected me. Other adults had come and gone in my life and had tried to tell me what to do, but I never listened because they did not understand me, this was different. I used to try to ask the YFC volunteers tricky questions to see if they would be real or not and their answers were always “on point.” After getting to know them, I began to hang out with the YFC people once I got out of Remann Hall. At first I mainly went because they had free food. But after awhile, I asked one of them, Chrisy to be my mentor – I told her that she was the one I wanted and no one else. I had had so many counselors and probation people speak to me, but I never felt connected to them in a real way. I had trouble having a mentor who was involved in my discipline (court people, etc) because I never could be real around them. I couldn’t trust them. I was looking for a friend and someone I could look up to. Chrisy looked so happy and inside I was sad and hurting. I felt like giving up many times, but on the outside I would try to seem happy. Chrisy started to meet with me and talk about my life and where I was headed.

            Once I had finished my eight months at Naselle, I began to spend a lot of time with Chrisy. She helped me get a job and would try to help me focus on my future and the hope that was ahead. Soon after, I got a chance to go to summer camp with the SOZO and YFC people. Not long after we got back, I got locked up again. Instead of getting sent back up again, I got a second chance.

            After that last time, things have really been changing for me. I am not always keeping everything inside and pushing everyone away. I have a mentor and friend I can call anytime who will give me direction. I have so many resources through my mentor: jobs, school, someone to listen to me. I have found out who I am and what is ahead in my future. I now have hope to deal with problems, when they come up. I am so encouraged by so many people that have come around me through Youth for Christ. I feel like I have a big family. They help me identify obstacles that have come against me in my past so that I can look forward to my future with hope.

            Recently, I have been helping others. It makes me feel good to help other people and now I have a chance to do that more. I am no longer quiet. When I walk down the street and see others, I say “hi” to people and try to make them smile. I am no longer just in my own little selfish world anymore. I have been trying to help other girls out of prostitution and gangs. I listen to them and encourage them, the way I was encouraged. I am trying to help my sister and family as well. I have a list of twelve people that I focus on to encourage them and point them in the right direction. A lot of them are younger girls who are in the same place I used to be, except some of them are worse because of how bad the streets are now.

            Now I see why there is a reason for authority. It has been good for me to listen to where other people are coming from. I listen and listen to get the full picture and understand more clearly where people are coming from. Before, I was always, “you’re wrong and I am right!” I used to have anger out of control. I now know it is not worth it to take my anger out on other people, so now I see how decisions put my future on hold and keep me from growing and developing the way I should. I now deal with my anger the way my mentor has taught me, and with God’s help, I get through without exploding.

            It makes me feel great to know I have someone who is there to listen to me and care for me. I have a purpose for my life now that I didn’t see prior to having someone to walk with me. I love helping others get out of there old lives, just the way I have. I care about others and I really want to see them make it out of lives of crime, drugs, prostitution and hopelessness. I understand what they have been through and I want them to know they can overcome the old ways in new positive ways. Thank you for listening to me.

Sincerely,

Kayleanna Escalante

JJM Mentee of Youth for Christ/Tacoma

Relationships matter more than we know. How many of us have been affected by relationships? I am willing to bet all of us have? One of our freshman students, “Ralph” loves Jesus with all his heart and is learning how to be bold in his faith by inviting friends to our leadership time on Wednesdays after school. Last Wednesday he invited “Ron” who like most people would say he has a relationship with God, but when asked if he had ever heard the gospel about Jesus his answer was no. He had no idea what God had done for him and how much he needed Jesus to save.

We spent a few minutes explaining to Ron the condition of his life in his sin and how Jesus died so that he could have a relationship with the living God. Ron’s response to the gospel was, “I want that,” so we prayed and Ron gave his heart to Jesus and began a true saving relationship with God in our living room.

What an amazing time – not only did Ralph get to see God work through his saying yes to inviting Ron, but also Ron got to experience truth and love in a real way. Thanks for allowing us to do the ministry at Foss, your support and prayers are effective.

Kyle Nelson

If you had visited our offices during the past several weeks you might have been surprised at the construction taking place as we added several Foster Care visit rooms and created some new office space.  I’m very happy to say we’re done with the work and it looks great!  I asked Cheryl Hollstrom, a member of our Foster Care licensing team continue

Adam leaned over and whispered “hey, Chad and I are friends now.”  I was perplexed as to what he meant.  Adam could tell that I was a bit confused so he continued, “yeah, we are friends, we worked through our problems!”  Wow, I did not think that this kind of change could have happened so quickly especially with the history between these two. 

Adam is an 8th grader at Truman and one of the student leaders from the Truman Campus Life club.  He and Chad have been at odds with each other ever since they started middle school in 6th grade.  Adam has been picked on, teased, pushed around and ridiculed by Chad.  Adam has even found himself in the school office because of Chad’s antics!  The anger and frustration has been building over the period of 2 years that these two students have known each other.

As a student leader, I have challenged Adam along with all the Truman leaders to view their relationships is a different way.  We have been studying a cirriculum that calls us to begin to see those around us as Christ sees others; to love the outcast, loner, popular or troubled as Christ loves us.  There has been a lot of push back when certain peers were mentioned.  Chad was one of those students that I challenged the leaders to begin to see from a different perspective.  For Adam this was a lot to ask becuase of their history.  Yet, I asked them to at least pray for their peers by name.  We prayed for Chad; and I prayed that Adam would be able to reach out to him.

When Adam said to me that he had worked out the issues with Chad, I was surprised to say the least.  Now I know that there is more to work through with these two, but a seed has been planted in the heart of Adam to see “irritating” people differently and to realize that even students like “Chad” need Jesus.  This is a beginning and my hope and prayer is that Adam will continue to view his life as an extension of Jesus to influence his peers and be a catalyst for enternal transformation!

What a difference a little compassion can make in someone’s life.  It can set the course for today, tomorrow, and the future. 

In the last 24 hrs I have been reminded and challenged by the reasons to live a life that is full of compassion.  A compassion that is given even in the mist of it not being deserved.  A compassion that overrides the circumstances that only your eye can see. Everyday we have a choice to pass on, and display how it impacts our life by gracing someone else’s life with it.

At YFC, we have some amazing foster families and staff that demonstrate compassion at all sorts of levels.  We have foster families that go beyond the charted responsibilities and duties of sharing that. 

Last Saturday, one of the foster families that I work with went beyond their own responsibilities and needs to show their care for the birth parents of the child in their home.  Without any expectation or request, they offered to take the family and child out for an afternoon of fun.  With time at the water front and lunch together….this opportunity meant the world to the birth parents. It was a moment that they had not been able to have for quite a while.  New vibrant, healthy memories were created for both families to share.

Where will you show your compassion today? 

“Everyone needs compassion, a love that’s never failing, let mercy fall on me…”

-Ruben Morgan & Ben Fielding

Charisa Nicholas

I think my favorite part about working in foster care, and I think most obviously, is getting to know the most amazing kids. Most of the kids on my caseload are very young. Their innocence and wild curiosity for life inspires me. It also challenges me to be an example for them in my interaction with them. It’s amazing what kid’s pick up and perceive, and I am so thankful that they have such great homes to love them during that time of their life.

While most of my kids are very young, I have a few teenagers on my “caseload” (It sure would be nice if we could call it something other than a “load”, because I love my cases!). While I thought I could learn a lot from my little kids, I can learn even more from the older ones. I recently had a visit with one of the most amazing teenagers I know. She has been through more than most of you could begin to imagine in her short life. She is now in a very loving home where she has been able to grow into the woman she is now, while she gets ready to graduated high school and head off to college. I was sitting in her living room talking with her about what she wanted to do with her life. It amazed me when she told me her perspective on the world. She told me that the tragedies and struggles she had gone through in her lifetime paled in comparison with some of the tragedies that the rest of the world had gone through. She told me how thankful she was for the roof over her head, the clean water, and for a big backyard and her family. She told me that what she had gone through in her life was minimal compared to the people in places like Darfur and the Middle East. She told me she had a heart for the unfortunate. She wants to change the world, because she HAS SO MUCH.

She blew me away. Sometimes I think to myself that the kids on my caseload have been through more than most people could handle in a life time. I couldn’t believe that she turned it around and told me how blessed she was. It completely gave me a new perspective on trials. By the end of our talk I was brought to tears (which I’m sure every teenager loves, their caseworker all ‘touched’ by their life story…but she was cool with me ). Can I just say that I work with the most amazing children ever? God’s going to use all of these times, trials, victories and struggles for His good. I just am so thankful that I get to partake in this process in just the tiniest of ways. My job is one of those jobs that each and every day you walk away having grown a little bit more in your perspective of how deep of God is.

Sarah Snodgrass