South Texas Alliance for Orphans

I was continuing my research on redemptive programs for foster care when I found Alliance4orphans. The South Texas Alliance churches have launched a program at their churches to help address issues with the foster care system. They seek to address three main issues in the foster care system. The first one is that not much is done to prevent families from entering the system in the first place; that is one of the areas the alliance churches are targeting. They work to prevent families from separating through education and support offered by the church. Another issue found in the foster care system is that there are not enough families willing to take in foster children. This church is attempting to mobilize its churchgoers and encourage them to think about fostering children. They have a support group and teach the parents who are willing to take in a child. Lastly, foster care does not help the child once they age out. This is a major issue because many 18-year-olds age out of the program without a stable home. This leaves them out in the streets and more likely to end up pregnant, homeless, or in prison. The church hopes to reduce those probabilities by having families open their homes to aged-out youths. These families would act as surrogate families and help keep them off the streets.

This whole program has such a redemptive mindset. They focus on a population in great need. This is an area where the church should have one of its biggest impacts. We are called to care for the orphans and the needy, yet there are still so many youths who do not have a stable foster home. The Church encouraging their families to consider fostering and offering resources if they decide to do so is exactly what we should be doing.