Our guest today on the Everyday Faith Podcast is Kaycee Stanley, a wife, mom, and founder of the non-profit The Reel Hope Project. In this episode, you’ll learn more about foster care, how Christians can help the most vulnerable, and the spiritual reality of our adoption as children of God. So, let’s dive in!
Have you received Jesus into your heart yet? If not, today is your day! Learn how to surrender your life to Jesus and receive the hope that He offers in our blog: This is For You!
Changing the Narrative Around Foster Care & Adoption
As Kaycee was finishing her degree in college, God began tugging on her heart for the most vulnerable in society. Over the years, she started to discover more about the reality of the foster care system, the radical hospitality of Christians throughout history, and Jesus’ mandate for the Church to take care of the most vulnerable.
For most Western Christians, when they hear the word “orphan”, they tend to think about homeless children in Africa or abandoned children in Asia. But the reality is, there are over 400,000 kids in the U.S. foster care system.
While the primary goal of foster care is for children to reunite with their biological parents, this often isn’t the case for many children in the foster care system. As of today, there are around 100,000 kids in the foster care system who are unable to go home to their biological parents because it is unsafe for them to do so. So, these children will either be adopted or they will age out of the system…and those statistics are sobering.
As of this writing, around 20% of the people in U.S. prison systems are adults who aged out of the foster care system when they were kids. And what’s even worse is that 29% of children in the foster care system will be homeless by age 21.
So, after much prayer and strategy, The Reel Hope Project was born to help children in foster care find a safe and loving forever family through short, engaging videos that allow children awaiting adoption to tell their story and increase their chances of adoption. Kaycee also empowers the Church to remember her calling and Biblical responsibility to take care of the vulnerable, just as the Church has historically done.
Bible Verses About Foster Care
Did you know that there are Bible verses about foster care? Even though the Bible never explicitly mentions the word “foster care”, the Bible does command Christians to care for widows, orphans, and the fatherless. So, let’s dive into Bible verses about foster care:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27
James 1:27 is arguably the most famous Bible verse about adoption and foster care. The author, James, is direct and unflinching about Christians' responsibility to take care of widows and orphans. What’s interesting, too, about this Bible verse for foster care is that Christians are called to take care of orphans “in their distress”. Foster care, adoption, and taking care of orphans isn’t always rainbows and roses, but the Bible instructs Christians to love selflessly, just like Christ would, even in distressing situations.
Discover more about the love of God in our blog: The Love of God is Better Than You Think
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. - Psalm 82:3-4
God is a Father who cares for all, but He has a special type of care and attention for the fatherless. God is the defender of the weak and the fatherless, and He invites His followers to do the same. This Bible verse about foster care shows that God helps the fatherless, the weak, and He chooses to provide rescue through His people – Christians. Bible verses about foster care and adoption are based on the love of God and His encouragement for Christians to make the world look more like Heaven, where everyone has a home.
Read more about God’s love and how to share His love with others: How Can I Share the Love of God With Others?
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. - Proverbs 31:8-9
Bible verses about foster care mention more than just the act of taking care of the most vulnerable. This Bible verse from Proverbs 31 instructs believers to not only care for orphans, but to speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves. The Bible verse about foster care and adoption goes so far as to ask Christians to defend the rights of the poor and needy! It’s so wonderful to know that God’s love truly is for everyone. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we’re empowered to love others with the same love Christ has for us.
Related Post: What Does the Bible Say About Praying for Others?
Bible Verses About Adoption
Now that we’ve read some Bible verses about foster care and providing for orphans, let’s take a look at Bible verses about adoption. The scriptures are full of Bible verses about adoption! But did you know there are even Bible stories with adopted characters in them?
Remember Moses? He was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter in Exodus 2.
The same goes for Queen Esther. Esther was adopted by Mordecai, her older cousin, and the Bible tells us that he took care of her (Esther 2:7).
So, let’s dive into Bible verses about physical adoption and Bible verses about spiritual adoption.
Bible Verses About Physical Adoption:
For in you the fatherless find compassion. - Hosea 14:3b
This Bible verse about adoption shows us the Father's heart. Scriptures about adoption also show us that as Christians, we’re supposed to emulate the Father’s love for others. So, if our Heavenly Father has a unique compassion for the fatherless, so should we.
Discover more about the Father heart of God in our blog: How Can I Help the Fatherless?
God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. - Psalm 68:6
Bible verses about adoption show us that God sets the lonely in families. But how? God uses His church to set the lonely in families! Just as Kaycee shared during our podcast interview, the Reel Hope project equips and inspires the Church to help the most vulnerable and to help children in the foster care system find their forever family.
“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” - Matthew 18:5
This Bible verse about adoption is a direct quote from Jesus in Matthew 18:5. When you welcome a little child into your home, it’s as if you’re welcoming Jesus into your space. Bible verses about adoption encourage Christians to remain vigilant about caring for the least of these and showing rightful honor to children.
Read more about how God honors and values children in our blog: What Does the Bible Say About Children?
Bible Verses About Spiritual Adoption:
He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - Ephesians 1:5
Bible verses about adoption don’t just encourage Christians in their heavenly calling to adopt, serve, and take care of children from hard places; scriptures about adoption also remind us of our divine adoption as children of God through Christ. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we have been brought out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13). Our spiritual adoption as Christians inspires us even more to show our Father’s love to the whole world.
Related Post: What Does the Bible Say About the Cross?
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. - 1 John 3:1
The love of God really is better than you think. This Bible verse about adoption from 1 John 3:1 reminds us that Christians are called children of God. And the best part? We get to be lavished with the love of the Father. As we receive God’s supernatural, unwavering, and perfect love, we are filled to overflowing so we can love and care for others, like God has cared for us.
Related Post: How to Bring the Light of God Everywhere
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father! - Romans 8:15
Bible verses about adoption tell Christians that they have received, supernaturally, the Spirit of adoption as sons. Now, we don’t refer to God out of an unholy fear; we get to call Him: Abba, Father!
Learn more about how to show others the adoptive love of God in our blog: How to Live a Life of Availability to God
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “ Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. - Galatians 4:4-7
The book of Galatians is full of Bible verses about adoption. Jesus came to save, redeem, and provide a way for us to become children of God. As Christians encounter the love of God, they are equipped to share the love of God with others, especially as they follow Jesus’ commands to take care of widows, orphans, and the poor.
Discover how to share God’s adoptive love with others in our blog: How to Live Out Your Christian Faith by Blessing Others
The Need for Christians to Create Healthy Community
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It takes a village?” When the Bible talks about community, family, and the charge to take care of widows and orphans, it never mentions doing this in isolation: it’s always in the context of community.
A Christian community is essential to your health, growth, and longevity. For a fruitful life in God where you actively follow the commands of Jesus, a Christian community is a non-negotiable. And especially as you venture to take care of the most vulnerable in society, a Christian community helps you on the sleepless nights, the frantic mornings, and the rough days that can come with foster care and adoption.
But when it comes to celebration, a Christian community helps you throw bigger, better parties, as you celebrate birthdays, sports games, and the big moments of those you are taking care of – whether through foster care, adoption, or respite care for families in need.
Conclusion
When we finished our interview with Kaycee, we were filled with faith, joy, and stirred to follow Jesus’ command to take care of widows, orphans, and the poor. Should you feel inspired to start your journey with foster care and adoption, head to The Reel Hope Project to learn more about kids who are looking for their forever family.
