3 Ways To Help
Family support, otherwise known as wraparound care, is an essential component of every adoption/foster care story. It is also the most common way every person of faith can be involved in reaching out to the fatherless.
A key principle of family support is that we do this to redeem time and energy for parents so that they can spend their time and energy with children.
Family support is focused on the child, as it recognizes that the most necessary bond for the child is healthy attachment to the parents. In most cases, children in these situations have gone through a lot of trauma. Children hurt through bad relationships are healed through healthy relationships. Family support is the Church intervening to take care of the family's daily needs, so that parents can spend time and energy restoring the child.
Family support can be divided into three categories:
Spiritual support
Practical support
Support Service network
Being a spiritual support requires you to be an attentive ear. Many families simply need someone to listen to them. Sitting and having coffee with the parents and just showing them that you are there has the power to change their world. Pray with them, and make sure not to counsel them, but to simply praise God, thank Him, and present requests to Him,
Practical support is when we redeem time for parents to spend with their children. What are the practical needs of the family? Every house has household chores, so let's call some people from the church to take care of those chores. Wash the dishes, clean the house, make dinner. Let’s do for this family some of the simple things in life that take time, which just about anyone can do. The child’s healing takes time. Think of it this way: if you take 20 people to their home to do two hours of chores, you have redeemed 40 hours of that family’s time to spend with their children. By cooking a meal for them or sweeping the kitchen, you just create an opportunity for the child's healing.
The final category of family support is the resource network. Any church of any size anywhere in the world have tradesmen who can help the adoptive family. Electricians, painters, mechanics, etc. The idea is: can we mobilize these professionals in our church to offer their services at reduced rates? Invite Church families to pay for some of the expenses. This preserves the family's resources so that they can spend those resources on the child.
Family support is simply love in action. We avoid doing what we are not able to do, and we do what wecan. Everyone can give a glass of water; you just need to find out what your glass of water is.
