Even in the Storm
Being a foster parent is NOT easy.
I bet that’s what you’ll hear from 99%+ of foster parents. Not to say that it isn’t also often joyful, heart-warming, and profoundly beautiful, but the fact remains that foster care is hard.
And when I say foster care, I mean the WHOLE process - learning about it, understanding the need, praying about it, wrestling with what it could mean for your family, going through the arduous accreditation process, caring for a child who has experienced significant trauma and loss, the grieving process once a child has gone back home, etc…
While foster care isn’t a perfect solution, it remains one of the most powerful and concrete ways that we can invest in the lives of children and families in need in our communities.
In Huehuetenango, Guatemala we’ve been working to build foster care where it didn’t exist. In fact, basically no one had even heard of it till our team started visiting churches and educating the community on foster care as a safer alternative to orphanages and institutions, as Guatemala has long relied on these facilities to care for children who didn’t have an obvious or easy family solution in their community.
To our great joy, Guatemalans have been rising to the challenge to meet the needs of their community. Currently we have 9 families who’ve had their lives flipped upside down in order to receive a child (or children) in need into their homes. These families are pioneers and innovators, as they are the FIRST families in this entire region of Guatemala (an area of over 1,000,000 people) to try this new, safer alternative to orphanages.
Today’s story is not about these 9 families, however - it’s about someone who despite finding themselves in the middle of one of life’s darkest storms, continues to fight and hope that she can finish the accreditation process to become Story’s 10th foster home.
”Maria” is a single woman who is currently battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Maria thought she had beaten cancer after going through an extensive chemotherapy regimen, but unfortunately, it appears that wasn’t the case.
Yet despite finding out she needs more chemotherapy and lacking the means to pay for the upcoming treatments, Maria refuses to bow out of the accreditation process. She has been receiving a little bit of support from her local Catholic congregation, but her plan right now is to try and sell a vehicle to make the payments.
Even in this storm, Maria is still fighting to become a foster parent.
Would you please keep “Maria” in your prayers as she refuses to let cancer or financial struggles stop her efforts to help vulnerable children and families in her community?
