I recently learned of an organization that started in Tennessee called Isaiah 117. This amazing organization is what inspired Grace Bags to also include children that have been placed into Foster Care as part of their mission. It made me realize that we really don’t think of foster care as a charity or as a purpose that needs attention. Lately, I’ve seen several yard signs that encourage becoming a foster parent…this got me thinking of all the reasons that people do or don’t want to foster children. It also really made me focus on how a child feels when they are taken from what they know and have to face so much uncertainly. Can you put yourself in their shoes and feel the fear, the anxiety, the total heartbreak? My daughter-in-law is a social worker (now that’s doing Gods’ work) and said that many kids placed in foster care don’t have the everyday items that we take for granted like shampoo and toothbrushes. She said they get excited when they get those items…can you imagine? Here are some startling facts:
- There are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the United States, 120,000 are waiting to be adopted. Read more.
- Children and youth enter foster care because they have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents or guardians.
- On average, children remain in state care for over a year and a half, and five percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years.
- In 2019, over 672,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. Read more.
How can you make a difference?
Another startling fact is that there are over 2.7 million grandparents in the US who are raising their grandchildren. I think they need support as well and Grace Bags would love to do that with your donations.