Midnight. The phone rings and not quite awake we answer. It’s social services and there’s an emergency.

Can we give a sibling group somewhere safe to stay for a night? We rummage around for bedding and toothbrushes and wait for them to arrive. We wonder how traumatised they will be, how anxious, how needy. We do our best to help them feel safe and happy.

One night turns into two and then a couple more and each day brings new logistical challenges. Firstly we need school trousers in the right sizes.

One of them won’t go to bed without a vest. Next day we need a swimming kit. Then we need help picking our adopted daughter up from school so we can make a hospital appointment. Fortunately we have a whole network of support that we can call on, who seem only too willing to lend a hand – or a vest!
 

 
Our local Baptist church plant to whom we belong has been invaluable to our family on our eight year journey in fostering and adopting.

Over the years they have helped not only in responding practically to late night messages on our Facebook group, but also emotionally in the many fostered children they have welcomed with open arms and hearts into the church family.

Sunday school teachers have adapted the programme they run to make it more appropriate. Children have invited them to parties and football games. A couple of the adults have wrapped something up especially for them at Christmas, or pushed magazines through the letterbox.

Others have pushed toy cars back to toddlers, accepted overly decorated biscuits or mopped up spilled drinks with a smile. One even kept a child with ADHD engaged for a short time every service for several months by sketching pictures of cars and motorbikes.
 
Adoption gets mentioned a lot at our church, especially when the whole church gets to celebrate with us when foster children move on to their forever families.

Adoption Sunday is an important event in the church calendar– we show the Home for Good video, we interview other families that have adopted or fostered and we give the sermon over to preach about our own adoption into God’s family.

We have been really encouraged by the passion which our little congregation has grasped of our role as a whole church to care for the vulnerable children in our community - and also to care for those who care for them.