THE CALL
So….Brittney is letting me hijack her blog for a minute, and I’m super grateful she trusts me enough to let me do that.
I guess I should start by introducing myself- I’m Ann.
I’m the NWA Coordinator for The CALL, a faith-based nonprofit that works to recruit, train, and support foster and adoptive homes through partnering with the local Christian churches. It’s a pretty great job and even on the heaviest days, I love it and consider it an honor to get to do the work I do.
Once upon a time I was a foster parent….way back in the days before The CALL existed in NWA. When I first opened my home to foster care there were two things that really impacted me deeply. The first was how many phone calls I’d get about children needing a place to go. Some days I would have to say no to a dozen different children because my home was full. I can only imagine what the other side of that phone call looked like- a caseworker sitting in their office with a child (or group of children) who are scared, have just been taken from the only family they’ve ever known, and don’t know where they’ll sleep that night. They’re sitting there listening to all the reasons people can’t take them in, and I can’t help but wonder how that rapid fire rejection and uncertainty felt. The other feeling I couldn’t ever shake was how isolating foster care felt. None of my family or friends understood what we were doing. I didn’t have a network of people to call for help. I felt utterly alone. And entirely too often when I would vent to someone about what I was dealing with they’d respond with encouragement to just quit.
Shortly after opening my home I realized that if I helped the children in my own home, that would be a limited number of kids but if I figured out a way help others wanting to do this same thing, the number of lives impacted would be so much greater. Through a lot of 3AM Google searches I came across The CALL, and I loved their model of taking this need to the church. The complexity and challenge that The CALL embraces when it works to partner the Christian churches with the government agency of DCFS was something that intrigued me. I love a good challenge!
Since The CALL in NWA’s first training 9 years ago, we’ve opened over 500 foster and adoptive homes to serve the children in our community. This is AMAZING, but we’re still not to a place where there’s a bed for every child in care. There are 565 children in foster care in NWA and right around 247 homes to care for them. We’ve still got work to do. Our biggest recruitment tool is actually our foster homes who, when they feel well supported, recruit their friends and family simply by living out their calling to foster care in a way that makes it look doable to the people curiously watching them from the sidelines.
Foster care is hard. I think everyone can agree on that. It’s why foster parents hear “I could never do what you do” or “You’re a saint!” more times than they can count. People who open up their lives to the challenges of foster care have agreed to a brave departure from so much of what is predictable and feels safe in their lives. Though the new foster family has checked every box, filled out every form, and taken diligent notes during training, there’s really nothing that can be done on the front end to ensure they’re fully prepared. Truthfully, they never will be until the children show up and they begin actually going about the work of navigating loss and healing hurt for little hearts.
There is a desperate need for more foster homes…. another point that I’m sure everyone can agree on. Of the 565 children in foster care in Northwest Arkansas, 337 of those are over the age of 6 and are therefore considered hard to place. Let that sink in for a minute…..Every child over 6 years old is hard to place. Those are first graders, y’all. But with that said, it’s also important to note that not everyone is called to open their homes to foster care. While opening your home isn’t for everyone, the care of the children who are under the guardianship of the state is something that in all of our responsibility, collectively. They’re quite literally OUR children to care for. If you’re not called to foster, you’re called to help those that are somehow.
Okay, I’ve gotten really wordy here. I’ll get to the point, I promise…
I’m no longer a foster parent, but I’ll never forget how hard that work was or how nice it was when I felt like I was seen and was supported by my community of friends and family. That’s one of the reasons that taking care of those homes who are still serving is at the top of my priority list. Other CALL affiliates around the state have amazing Foster Parent Support Centers as part of their offices. They’ve got fully stocked clothes closets on-site with their offices, so those items are available and easy for their foster parents to access. They’ve got visit rooms for bio parents to meet with their children in a space that feels more like a welcoming home and less like an office at a government agency. They’ve got space for foster parents to come have coffee and visit with each other while their kids play. It’s time for us to bring something like this to Northwest Arkansas. We need to be able to support our foster parents in a greater capacity than we currently do.
So, here’s where you come in-
On Thursday April 4th from 8am-8pm The CALL in NWA will be participating in NWA Gives. 12 hours of generous giving with the goal of making a major impact within the Northwest Arkansas community. All of the funds raised for The CALL in NWA through this campaign will go towards making a new office space with a family support center on-site a reality. Will you prayerfully consider giving generously? We’ve set a goal of $15,000 but I secretly (ok, maybe not so secretly now…) want to see us blow right on past that. I think we can! The link to give is live now, and you’re welcome to go ahead and give early. You can also set a reminder alarm for Thursday to give during the event and help us earn matching grants to be given out throughout the day.
Thank you for doing your part to support foster parents.
Ann
**YOU CLICK ON THE PICTURE (or LINK ) BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CALL AND NWA GIVES!
