How fostering reflects God’s many-roomed house

I vividly remember the day I bumped into an old friend who was now a foster carer, who told me that just that morning she had received a call from her social worker. There was a baby who had been waiting in hospital for two weeks after being born, with nowhere to go home to. I had a young baby at home at the time. I had everything at home that a newborn might need. I thought: I could give her a home.

We got in touch with Home for Good almost right away, and one of the team came to our house. She was inspiring and encouraging, she told us a bit of her own story, and she listened to all we had to say. But the first question she asked us was an important one: ‘Have you got a spare bedroom?

We lived in three-bedroom house, but the third room was too small to even fit a single bed, and with a large age gap between our two daughters, we didn’t feel it right to ask them to share. We learnt as well that our youngest daughter was probably too young for us to foster at that point, and that it might be better to wait.

So, wait we did. But the pull we felt to welcome and care for a child or young person who needed it just grew stronger. When our youngest began at nursery, we decided it was time. We knew we wouldn’t be able to foster in the house we were in, so with a sharp intake of breath, the ‘For Sale’ sign went up…

This article was first published by Home for Good at homeforgood.org.uk.
A four-session Bible study, ‘Make Room’, on God’s heart towards children, is available from homeforgood.org.uk/make-room

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This is an extract from an article published in the July/August 2022 edition of Reform

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