Child Share of Delaware County

05/06/2026

Everybody loves to say “the system is broken.”

But what are you doing besides talking about it?

Because babies are still sleeping in DSS offices.
Teens are still aging out feeling unwanted.
Foster parents are still crying in bathroom floors from exhaustion.
And caseworkers are still carrying impossible caseloads while everyone points fingers from the sidelines.

You don’t get to scream that foster care is a mess while refusing to become part of the solution.

You don’t get to call bio parents lazy or unfit if you’ve never tried to understand addiction, poverty, abuse, mental illness, or generational trauma. Some of these parents were failed long before their children ever were.

And you don’t get to judge foster families for “getting attached” when attachment is literally what wounded children are starving for.

The truth is this system is not just failing because of policies.
It’s failing because too many people are comfortable watching children suffer as long as it doesn’t inconvenience their own lives.

The Church posts sermons about loving your neighbor while children enter care with trash bags and no pajamas.
We sing about being the hands and feet of Jesus while foster families drown quietly behind closed doors.
We say “someone should help” while praying it never costs us anything personally.

But real ministry has always cost something.

It costs sleep.
It costs comfort.
It costs time.
It costs heartbreak.

Sometimes it looks like sitting in court praying a judge makes the right call.
Sometimes it looks like loving a child hard enough to let them reunify.
Sometimes it looks like opening your home when it would be easier to protect your peace.

Kids in foster care do not need more opinions.
They need people willing to show up.

People willing to stay.
People willing to love when it gets messy.
People willing to stand in the gap even when it hurts.

Because maybe the system is broken.
But maybe our unwillingness to do anything about it is too.

04/08/2026

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately…

Most of this life is just showing up.

Not fixing everything.
Not having all the answers.
Not getting it right every time.

Just showing up.

Again.
And again.
And again.

There are days I feel completely emptied out.
Days where the trauma in the room feels louder than anything I can say.
Days where everything stacks up at once and it feels like too much.

The emotions.
The behaviors.
The weight of it all.

And I still show up.

I sit in it.
Right there in the middle of the hard.
On the floor. In the chaos. In the quiet after.

I wipe tears.
I pass out snacks.
I give hugs when they are wanted and sit close when they are not.
I whisper prayers under my breath while I am doing a hundred other things.

I answer questions no child should have to ask.
I hold little hands through big feelings.
I stay… even when I feel like I have nothing left.

And that matters.

More than we think.

Because healing is not found in perfection.

It is found in presence.

In someone who does not leave.
In someone who stays steady.
In someone who keeps showing up even when it is hard and messy and unseen.

Some of these kids have known more disappointment than we can even wrap our minds around.

So when we show up… consistently… gently… without giving up…

It does something.

Even if we cannot see it right away.
Even if we never fully see it at all.

God sees it.

Every quiet moment.
Every exhausted prayer.
Every time you chose patience when it would have been easier to shut down.

He sees all of it.

Nothing is wasted.

So if today feels heavy…
If you are wondering if what you are doing even matters…

It does.

You do not have to be perfect.

You just have to keep showing up.

Because healing comes from love that stays.

04/08/2026

02/20/2026

Every request met represents an opportunity for connection. Thank you!

02/20/2026

02/20/2026

Sometimes…
love doesn’t fix the behavior.

You can love a child deeply
and still get hit.
yelled at.
pushed away.

You can show up every day
be consistent
be gentle

and still watch them struggle.

And then people on the outside say,

“Maybe they just need more love.”

No.

They need healing.

And healing is not quick.
It’s not pretty.
It’s not linear.

Because trauma doesn’t just disappear
because they landed in a good home.

Trauma lives in the body.
In the mind.
In the nervous system.

So when a child lashes out…

It’s not always rebellion.
It’s survival.

When they lie…
it’s not always manipulation.
It’s protection.

When they push you away…
it’s not because they don’t want you.

It’s because everyone else left
and they’re trying to beat you to it.

And if you take that personally…
you will miss what’s really happening.

These kids are not giving you a hard time.

They are having a hard time.

And loving them through that?

That’s not soft.

That’s not easy.

That’s showing up
again and again
without instant results
without a thank you
without a guarantee it will ever get easier.

That’s choosing to stay
when everything in you wants to fix it
and you can’t.

Because sometimes…

The most powerful thing you can do
is not fix them.

It’s not give up on them.

And that kind of love?

It doesn’t look pretty.

But it’s the kind that actually matters.

02/12/2026

Foster parents,
If nobody told you this week, let me be the one.

You are not crazy.
You are not weak.
You are not failing.

This is hard because it is hard.
Not because you are doing something wrong.
Not because you are not strong enough.
Not because you are not cut out for this.

Foster care is a battle most people will never understand.
It is showing up to visits that leave your kids undone.
It is wiping tears that come from places you cannot fix.
It is holding space for grief that is bigger than their little bodies should ever have to carry.
It is advocating in rooms where you feel small and unheard.
It is loving children so deeply while knowing you might not be the one who gets to raise them.

And yet, you are still here.
You are still standing.
You are still showing up for kids who desperately need someone to stay.

That is not weakness. That is holy work.

And I hope you know Heaven sees every unseen moment. Every tear you shed in silence. Every prayer you whisper when no one else is listening.

You are not failing. You are fighting for kids in ways that matter more than you will ever know.

02/10/2026

Every time I write an encouraging post for foster parents
acknowledging what they give
the sleepless nights
the emotional weight
the grief that comes when a child leaves

I get the same comments.

“Imagine how the biological parents feel.”
“Stop stealing children.”
“You’re part of the problem.”
“You’re impeding reunification.”

So let me be very clear.

I write about biological parents. Often.
I pray for them.
I speak about reunification.
I believe in redemption and restoration because my faith demands that I do.

But not every post is required to carry every burden.

Sometimes a post is allowed to be about the people who are standing in the gap.
Sometimes encouragement does not need a disclaimer.
Sometimes we don’t need to pit one pain against another.

A lot of foster parents stay silent because of this.
Because every time they speak honestly
the stones come out.
Their obedience gets questioned.
Their love gets twisted into something ugly.

And that silence is not accidental.

The enemy loves nothing more than isolating the ones who are trying to do the right thing.

So no
I am not writing to the foster parents who should have never been licensed.
We all know they exist.
They are not who I am speaking to.

I am writing to the ones who love children who are not “theirs”
and somehow manage to love their families too.
To the ones who support reunification even while grieving.
To the ones who say yes again and again
even when it costs them.

Scripture says to carry one another’s burdens.
This is part of that.

Encouraging foster parents is not an attack on biological parents.
Acknowledging their grief does not make them the villain.
And obedience to a calling will always be misunderstood by people who aren’t living it.

Sometimes encouragement can just be encouragement.
Sometimes a post can stay in its lane.
And sometimes the people doing the quiet, faithful work
deserve to be seen.

01/03/2026

In the midst of a very busy month for our churches and network responders, together we met a record number of requests across the state. Every request met represents an opportunity for connection. Thank you.