When Child Protective Services and the courts make the decision that a child must be taken away from their parents, that child needs a foster home – right now. I receive calls and emails from CPS daily, asking me if YFC has an available foster home for a child. In one day I might receive as many as ten requests, for everything from newborn infants to teenagers with challenging behavioral needs.

I am the “air traffic controller”, or as one foster parent put it, the “care traffic controller,” deciding which homes to call about which children. It is challenging and keeps me in a spirit of prayer, as I decide who to call first. I know that some of my decisions have lifelong implications for children and families.

There are so many needs. Yesterday, I was searching for a foster home for a six-year- old girl who came from a churchgoing family. She had experienced neglect and abuse and had already been in three other homes. She was described as cute and outgoing, yet had many emotional hurts that needed healing. This sweet little first grader needed a new foster family to love and nurture her. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a home for her; YFC didn’t have an appropriate home with an open bed. There was “no room in the inn.”

When a group of siblings enter foster care, 75% of the time they have to be split up because there is not a home available with enough space to keep them together. Imagine being taken away from your parents and then not even being able to live with your brothers and sisters!

If you have thought about doing the ministry of foster care, please put your faith into action and take the steps to become licensed. The need is great! And the rewards are great, too!

—Karen Grove, Placement Coordinator