the number of children with an incarcerated parent grows as the incarceration rate grows. When they have a parent or other family member who steps forward to offer them a stable home and unconditional love, they have a good hope of becoming productive and successful members of their community.
But for children who have no one who is able (or willing) to accept such a responsibility, children wind up in a foster care system that is a mixed bag: from truly caring (though often thinly stretched) folks with a calling to help and care, to folks who are burnt out and fail to keep the children even basically safe, much less truly loved and mentored.
This morning I have been trying to run down children whose incarcerated parent has reached out through Angel Tree Ministries to maintain contact with their children (children that, barring abuse issues, repeatedly are proven to benefit from such contact). For children drifting through a foster care system where interaction is increasingly difficult and eventually impossible it is challenging to walk the tightrope between privacy and transparency.
Won't you pray for the children of the incarcerated today? Please ask for special mercies for those who feel abandoned by parents who can not (or will not) tell them that they are amazing, wonderful, delightful, beautiful, smart, funny, beloved children, and pray that these children might learn and be frequently reminded that this is exactly how God made them and how God sees them today and always.
But for children who have no one who is able (or willing) to accept such a responsibility, children wind up in a foster care system that is a mixed bag: from truly caring (though often thinly stretched) folks with a calling to help and care, to folks who are burnt out and fail to keep the children even basically safe, much less truly loved and mentored.
This morning I have been trying to run down children whose incarcerated parent has reached out through Angel Tree Ministries to maintain contact with their children (children that, barring abuse issues, repeatedly are proven to benefit from such contact). For children drifting through a foster care system where interaction is increasingly difficult and eventually impossible it is challenging to walk the tightrope between privacy and transparency.
Won't you pray for the children of the incarcerated today? Please ask for special mercies for those who feel abandoned by parents who can not (or will not) tell them that they are amazing, wonderful, delightful, beautiful, smart, funny, beloved children, and pray that these children might learn and be frequently reminded that this is exactly how God made them and how God sees them today and always.
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