WRAP is a tool that mobilizes people to help adoptive and foster children and the families who care for them. When foster, adoptive, kinship, birth, and at-risk families have WRAP Around care, they are given the support they need to thrive.
From dropping off a meal or mowing a lawn to helping with carpooling or providing respite care, there are countless ways to make an impact, and Open Bible Church is all in!
The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
50% of foster parents quit every year, and an additional 50% every year after due to a lack of social and community support.
How can we help retain the great foster families in our community who are standing in the gap for the most vulnerable in our community?
If you are interested in being part of this important new ministry at OBC, we’d love to connect with you!
Whether you’re a current foster/adoptive parent or you’re interested in being a WRAP volunteer, please click the button below and we’ll be in touch soon.
Foster and adoptive parenting is fulfilling but challenging. It can mean a lifestyle change for families. Being available at a moment’s notice to accept a kid or siblings coming into care requires a lot of flexibility. Foster parents are often co-parenting with the foster child’s biological parents, communicating and visiting with them to aid in successful reunification.
In addition to building relationships with the bio families and co-parenting with them, foster parents coordinate meetings and check-ins with case workers, sometimes therapists, medical appointments, and more for kids in their care. There are a number of expectations and on-going training requirements to be fulfilled when caring for other people’s children.
Foster and adoptive parenting also requires a different way of parenting. Kids in foster care and those who have experienced adoption need parents who understand and are equipped to help kids heal from trauma and loss. A lot of time and intention must be given to gaining trust, building attachment, and providing a balance of nurture and structure to promote healing and experience belonging. Your WRAP support gives foster and adoptive parents more time to invest in relationships with children and caring for themselves to stay healthy for the long haul.
Nationally, as many as 50% of foster parents quit after the first year. Adopting and changes in family circumstances are two common reasons; but there are other preventable reasons foster parents quit. Many feel inadequately supported and resourced. One report from the National Foster Parent Association showed that “struggles dealing with stress” and “difficulty processing grief and loss” were among the top reasons given.
A big reason for multiple placements for kids in foster care is high turnover rates among foster parents. Every time a kid in foster care is placed into a new foster home, they lose emotional, relational, and often academic stability. Continued severed relationships among important adults in their lives continue patterns of trauma and cause setbacks in forming trust.