I want to introduce you to an amazing friend of mine, and the author of this month’s guest blog – Jennifer Lake. I’ve gotten to know Jenn over the past couple years, thanks in part to Dwell Orphan Care. Jenn is the founder and director of Dwell; she has an incredible heart to advocate for the vulnerable and to care for foster and adoptive families. If you’ve never heard of Dwell, I highly recommend that you check out their website and see how you can partner with them to make a difference! Keep reading to hear straight from Jenn’s heart, and to find some practical next steps!

“Until There Is More Than Enough” by Jenn Lake

We will call him Steve.

He was 9 years old.

When I first met Steve, I was a family caseworker. I got the call to meet Steve and his child caseworker at the foster family’s house for placement. I am not sure what I really expected but I know I didn’t expect my heart to be broken the way that it was that night. 

I pulled up to the foster family’s house early to get settled and run through some paperwork. Soon after, a red sedan pulled up to the curb. A large child got out of the backseat of the car holding a blanket. His face was full of sadness. His caseworker got out of the driver’s seat and went to the trunk of the car where he pulled out a small, beat up, dirty duffle bag.

All of Steve’s belongings fit in that small, beat up, dirty duffle bag. His earthly possessions were in a vessel that said, “you are not important.”

“We can do better,” I thought to myself. “We must do better.”

After Steve spent a few months with his foster family, he began to feel safe. Feeling safe is a scary feeling for children that come from hard places. Feeling safe means they start to let their guard down. For children who have been harmed, being on alert is a protective, primal response. If a child in foster care begins to feel safe and loved, they often begin to act out because trauma is real. The effects of trauma are deep and long-lasting.

Because Steve did not have the proper tools to handle his big feelings, he began to act out. His behaviors became too severe for the foster family to handle on their own. They didn’t have enough support from their church or their community. They felt hopeless and alone.

After five months, Steve’s placement disrupted and he was sent to yet another foster home to begin the process all over again. A trail of grief and loss was left for both Steve and his foster family. There simply were not enough resources to keep him safe in the home and keep the foster family well supported in the process.

There simply was not enough. 

Two of the most common words associated with foster care in the United States are “not enough”.

Not enough resources to meet all the needs.

Not enough support for struggling biological, kinship, foster, and adoptive families.

Not enough families for kids who need them.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are easily enough resources, enough support, and enough families to solve the foster care crisis. In fact, there are more than enough.

At Dwell, we believe everyone can do something when it comes to supporting foster/adoptive families. It can be as simple as providing a meal, mowing the lawn, financially supporting a family, buying diapers, praying, mentoring, or simply sending an encouraging message. Nothing is too small.

What if you were able to work with the right people, on the right things, in the right way in order to transform foster care in your county? What if we saw more than enough as a reality for our children and families in our community? It’s time for the children and families in our county to go from not enough to having more than enough. Let’s become part of something much larger, much messier, and much more magnificent than we ever dreamed.

Dwell exists to support foster and adoptive families so that children have a safe, loving, forever home in which to dwell. We provide foster care packages to families upon new placement. We have a foster closet we call The Hope Chest so that kids in care can have what they need and dignity and hope can be restored. Dwell provides support through trauma informed care in the form of Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) caregiver training and foster/adoptive parent support groups. For families adopting through private domestic or international adoption, a grant program is available. 

For churches that want to step into the space of answering the call to care for orphans, vulnerable children and the families that love them, we help them form Family Advocacy Ministries or what we call “F.A.M.’s”. There are countless ways for churches to get involved and become champions for the cause. One such way is through the formation of care communities. Care communities are small groups of volunteers that wrap around foster families to provide tangible, direct support. The Church is equipped. Dwell works to mobilize, empower and encourage so that foster families are well-supported, resulting in them fostering longer and stronger.

Foster and adoptive families were never meant to do this journey alone. We were designed for community.

We believe that everyone can do something and we want our brothers and sisters in Christ to feel empowered to use their talents and to make eternal investments in the lives of vulnerable kids. If you’d like to learn more about how you can be involved and become a champion for the cause, we welcome you to join us in the fight. Visit our website at www.dwellorphancare.org to learn more.

If you have ever felt that fostering or adopting is not your calling but you still want to do something and somehow be a part of supporting the work of caring for orphans, vulnerable children and the families that love them, we invite you to join us for a Foster Care Advocacy Event at City Church, Williamsport on Sunday, June 6th from 3pm-5pm to learn more.

Not everyone is called to foster or adopt, but everyone can do something for the cause. What’s your something?

Until there is more than enough,

Jenn

Jennifer Lake, PCC, TBRI Practitioner

Founder and Director

www.dwellorphancare.org

❤️

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, so it’s a perfect time to jump on board with the vision and mission of Dwell. If you live in Pennsylvania, you can attend the advocacy event in June. If you like golf, there’s a golf outing this August. If you’re financially able, you can donate a one-time gift to Dwell or become a monthly sustainer. There are so many ways to make a difference with Dwell… head to their page, What’s Your Something, to find your something!