Sowing seeds of faith in foster care children

“I saw people pouring out their hearts and their homes to serve kids and to serve youth and I began to say, ‘Wow, people have ministry gifts and they’re using that to serve really vulnerable children,” Pam Giardina said. 

Christian Family Care’s chief programs officer, Pam Giardina was recently interviewed on the Family Care Learning podcast about the calling required for foster care and adoption parents. In that episode she talks about sowing seeds of faith in foster care children.  

“We have a world of hurting children and a lot of people would say, ‘Well, we’re going to serve, we want to put our money where international ministry is with the kids across the sea,’ and I was saying, ‘Well, wait a second we have domestic ministry right here!’” Giardina said in the podcast. 

Giardina explained that you don’t have to go anywhere to serve kids. You can serve kids right here and the gift of family is a gift that is eternal.  

“The way God designed marriage and family; that’s a gift and that’s a gift to mankind and our kids that are in this system that are pretty vulnerable and they don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “They come to us because they’ve experienced trauma or neglect and so we’re giving them family,” she added.  

Giardina believes everybody is called to minister to the Lord in some capacity. “There isn’t anybody that isn’t called,” she said. “You’re called to be a disciple of Christ, to present the loving God that we serve and to bring people back into the family,” she added. 

Over the years, in foster care and adoption, Giardina said she has seen that this very unique ministry call has really helped and served children and that’s God’s heart to take care of the orphans and the kids that are removed from their families. Whether that be temporarily, while parents are getting their lives back together, or through the permanency of adoption.  

“They’re taking what they have and they’re serving the Lord with it,” Giardina said. “These are their gifts, the gift of family, we have family. We know what family is about. We know God’s calling to family and to me that has eternal value,” she said.  

Giardina shared how you don’t realize what you bring to a child. “I think that’s the harder piece for families because they may come to us for the wrong reason, but really it’s, if they’re thinking about, ‘How can I serve God? How can I show him how much I love him and I appreciate what he’s done for me?’ If they just stepped back and they said, ‘Wow, we’re married. You know, we have children and I can give this my family to help a hurting child.’ To me, that is eternal. It has eternal value and it lasts,” she said. “What they sow in that child lasts for forever because they’re serving God,” she added. 

We all serve God by faith. You have to trust God in what he has called you to do. “When we do that, when family sow those seeds that they have put in that child of watching them day in and day out, the ordinary eternal gift of life that’s placed in their heart will never go away,” she said. “They may only be with them for two months. They may be with them for three months, 90 days, but whatever it is, those seeds of faith that they sow in those children lasts for forever and they’ll remember that, you know, they will remember that,” Giardina said. 

To watch the full podcast click here: The Calling Required For Foster Care and Adoption – Family Care Learning Podcast #19 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Make a Life-Changing Gift

Help an abused or neglected child receive love and nurture in a Christ-centered family.

Please select your gift amount

Stay Connected

Get the latest from Christian Family Care to see young lives transformed.

en_USEN