The Drowning Truth

There's a mama I love.

Before the world of foster care, she was married and cared for three children with a dual income. Things were far from perfect, but they were manageable.

Three years down the road, she's a single mom, discovering her three children again after a long separation. She scraping on one meager income.

She's beaten and faced more than I could in a hundred years. She's fulfilled all her requirements. I am so proud of her...

 But her head is barely above water.

There's some who see this and make accusations and claim the system should have never sent the kids home.

I see kids who call their mama, Hero.

I hear children telling their mama, Thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you for fighting for us.

I see a woman who has stared shame down.

I see my sister in Jesus.

In the church, the realm of foster care is becoming a growing awareness, and I am so grateful. I am.

But, if we claim we are in foster care, we must be in it...hook, line, and sinker.

We rally to provide Christmas gifts and backpacks for children in care, and we shy away from the mother who has earned the right to be known as mother once again.

The Forgotten Initiative has been asked to partner with family preservation and provide for families working to stay in tact, fighting off whispers of crisis.

Would you consider joining us?

We are honored to be partnering with Lifeline Children's Services in this endeavor, and TFI will specifically be providing back-to-school clothes and needs for 15 children in family preservation situations. The expense is between $100-150, depending on the age of the child. Will you lift the burden of the broken with us?

Contact me for specific child information at cafranktie@aol.com. We cannot walk this journey without you.

Looking to Jesus,

Resource Thursday: What is The Forgotten Initiative?

I asked my partner-in-crime, Kristin Solomon, to share what The Forgotten Initiative means to her. So grateful for her response....

The Forgotten Initiative exists to bring joy and purpose to the foster care community. We are the foster care branch of Lifesong for Orphans.

That's the official description.

What is TFI to me?  

It is the blessing of being able to fulfill God's calling on my life in a way that's doable (in his strength alone). It's a pathway for God's people to begin to understand what the world of foster care is all about. It's an easy on-ramp for folks feeling the nudge to help local children in crisis but not yet ready or able to commit to foster parenting.

Basically we are "the middle man" in the foster care community, connecting this community and their needs to people in the Church willing to meet these needs.  We've developed relationships with workers at the local agencies, and as we build relationships with them, they have opened up concerning their needs with us. Often these are material needs, but over time, the results extend far beyond that.

Since our beginning in Birmingham in 2011, your partnership has equipped TFI to provide Christmas for more than 200 teens in foster care, prepare backpacks full of school supplies and uniforms for over 400 children, making back-to-school possible, complete Project Sunshine visitation room makeovers on five rooms at three local DHR offices, and deliver hundreds (I've lost count) of Journey Bags for children coming into care often with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Physical needs previously not met are now being provided for.

But beyond the physical needs, we're seeing spirits brighten within this community. Workers whose job it is to help provide for Christmas or back-to-school no longer fret over how they will provide for so many kids. They know they can ask us, and God's people will step in and provide. We've been able to support these workers with celebration and encouragement baskets and breakfasts to remind them they are making a different as community children care advocates. And they welcome our partnership.

Foster parents who previously had to decide whether to go to Walmart first or go pick up waiting kids brought into care, can now focus on those children coming into their home, knowing a Journey Bag filled with basic necessities will help them through those first few hours and days. 

Birth parents and children who were once uncomfortable as they visited in an unfamiliar location are now comforted by bright rooms whispering that someone cared enough to provide a fun, cheerful place for them to work on becoming a family again.

The children continue coming into care. The workers continue to be overloaded. The foster parents continue to become overwhelmed. The birth parents continue to grow discouraged. 

The needs seem endless.

And yet, steps are now being made. Foster parents are finding relief. Workers' burdens are being lifted. Birth parents are encouraged.

Steps...baby steps are being taken. And it's exciting!

But we also dream of giant leaps as well. Life skills being taught to teens who will eventually age out of the system. Respite nights for foster parents to have a date or just an evening alone so that they can look ahead and take a deep breath. Real help for birth families who truly long and fight for reunification. We long to see mentors for teens, families, and children who are earnestly desire to start a fresh story.

And the list goes on.

How can we keep meeting needs? How can we expand to more projects, to meet more needs?  How can we go deeper and see real changes?

Only if you step up. One person at a time. One Sunday School class or small group. One church. One community, moving forward for the benefit of children and families.

Consider becoming a monthly partner with us at The Forgotten Initiative. Find more information here. Always be sure to note Birmingham as your recipient. Or, consider discussing with your church how you can become a church partner for the areas into which God is moving us!

We are so humbled to serve children and families in crisis with you,

Looking unto Jesus,

Kristin Solomon....and

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

an early Christmas!

Our goal to sponsor 100 children in crisis for school readiness is in full swing! You can read all about it here.

Rebekah Blocher at Compelled Designs has created a unique necklace representing advocacy for foster care. This month proceeds will benefit our goal of coming alongside DHR to help ensure all foster children are prepared for the 2013-2014 school year with uniform and supplies. 

Make your list of every female you need to buy a gift for between now and December. Check it twice, and knock it out, knowing you are enabling a child to begin the coming year with hope and confidence!

Don't forget! Our goal is 100 sponsored children at $100 each by June 28th! You can make online donations at The Forgotten Initiative, but please be sure to note #97505.

Looking unto Jesus,

Voices of Foster Care: Your Turn; Please Share!

I had a vision of wrapping up our glorious Voices of Foster Care series on May 31st with a grand finale.

Well, the grand finale included a busted pipe, flooded donation room, and soaking walls ~ Yea!

Anyway, I am out of groove and out of mind, but God is evermore faithful.

However, I didn't want to pass May too much without saying thank you to the many contributors and readers who discussed, wrote, read, commented and emailed thoughts, questions and concerns regarding foster care. My aim was to increase awareness of various angles within the sphere of foster care, and though I was not able to fully hit all the angles I desired, every word was prayed over and perfectly ordained by the Father. I'm so grateful.

It's easy to read the many statistics, facts and articles until they swirl around you. It's more difficult to turn your face from the mother weeping in the courtroom, the child banging his head against a wall, the teen running from the secret haunts within her.

Don't turn your head.

Instead partner with us. Be our "hands of Hur" has we love on the Forgotten Ones.

Allow your voice to join ours in this small, but powerful way to be the hands and feet of Jesus to DHR, foster parents, birthfamilies and foster children...

At The Forgotten Initiative, we aim to bring hope and purpose to the foster care community through truth of the Gospel. Jefferson County Department of Human Resources has commissioned us to sponsor 100 school age foster children for the 2013-2014 school year. Many children in Jefferson County foster placements and family preservation situations often are unable to attend school until after Labor Day because of financial needs for uniforms and school supplies. 

To sponsor one child, you may make a donation of $100. This provides a child with three new uniforms, a new pair of shoes, socks, a backpack, and all needed supplies for the upcoming school year. Would you consider partnering with us in this way? Any amount helps! Ten donations of $10 will enable one child to begin the school year with confidence! Consider joining together as a Sunday School class or small group! Hold a lemonade stand as a family!

Please make your tax deductible donations out to Lifesong for Orphans and note Birmingham TFI #97505 in the memo line. Then send to:

The Forgotten Initiative
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744

You may also donate online by going
www.theforgotteninitiative.org/donation.html. Please note #97505 in the appropriate line.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 ($100 per 100 children) by June 28th.

If you have any questions, please contact me at cafranktie@aol.com.

Because of Jesus,
The Forgotten Initiative, Birmingham

And Because He does not turn His face from us,

WE'RE HAVING A BABY....

...Shower, that is ;)

Imagine....

At the age of 10, you are removed from your mother, your sister, your brothers...every definition you have known of family, even if it wasn't the Normal Rockwell scenario...or even remotely close to it.

A few visits, gifts here and there, letters. A mound of court dates, promises never kept, not only by your family, but the foster families that bumped you every few months, giving reason after reason why you just didn't seem to fit their mold.

And then you wake to look in the mirror to discover, you're it ~ or at least that's the lie whispered over you.

There is no one looking out for you. 

There is no one waiting for you.

And years down the road, you're a teen in foster care.

And you look for love in the empty places.

And once again, you're alone, but this time with another growing inside of you.

And for the first time you think, you could have a family and do it right ~ at the age of 17.

If you're reading this blog, you most likely have a heart for adoption, for the orphan, for the fatherless.

Today, I'm asking you to set your perceptions aside. The standard of what qualifies or doesn't qualify someone to be a mother, a father; because not one of us has a right...it's an honor.

This week I was called by DHR regarding a story much like the one I just invited you into.

I was asked to find a way for this young mother-to-be, to be celebrated, rather than forgotten.

Seen, rather than unseen.

Loved, rather than judged.

And so, you're invited to celebrate this momma who has grown up in foster care, giving birth to her family, giving birth to hope.

Between now and Friday, we'll be collecting items for this almost new momma and her baby girl who is expected to arrive sometime this month.

The needs are endless. She has little at this point. God is bringing support to surround her.

We have been challenged. Will you answer?

If you would like to contribute, or if you have gently used items for a baby girl, please contact me at cafranktie@aol.com.

Because we are deeply loved,

A Simple, Easy Invitation!

You're invited to countdown to Christmas with us at The Forgotten Initiative! The Forgotten Initiative exists to bring joy and purpose to the foster care community through the gospel. There are four simple ways you can become involved: 1. Kick off your Christmas shopping by purchasing your favorite children's books and gifts through www.catiesusbornebooks.com. Be sure to click on The Forgotten Initiative event party! ALL proceeds go to our Christmas project of ensuring all 1,400 foster children in the Birmingham area receive Christmas with the hope of the gospel. 2. Don't have a little one to shop for? Simply pick out your favorite book through the website, send it to me, and we'll match it with a child for Christmas. Please private message me for an address. 3. Consider sponsoring a child for Christmas. Please message me for details. 4. PRAY, that the hope of the gospel will be known through our efforts to the foster children, their families, their foster families and DHR staff. Shop right in your home for books you can cuddle up and read to your precious children at night! Christmas is coming! Please shop today October 25th at midnight, right in your pajamas! When you order, the books will be mailed straight to your home! Check out our facebook page at The Forgotten Initiative, Birmingham. "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." - Psalm 68:5 He is faithful! **If you would be interested in hosting your own online or home party to support our ministry and come away with fun free books and gifts, let me know!

Help Wanted!

Two awesome ways YOU can help by holding up our arms in caring for the fatherless:

1. This Saturday, June 9th, we are moving our clothes closet for foster children to Lifeline's NEW domestic services building at 9 a.m. We will only be moving, not setting up. The more helping hands we have, the more quickly it will go. Please message me at cafranktie@aol.com if you are willing to help! (AND, you get to spend our 11th anniversary with us, so FREE breakfast! :)

2. Bessemer Department of Human Resources is in DEEP need of larger size diapers and pull ups. Our ROCK STAR church is doing a diaper drive for Bessemer, but please feel FREE to jump in and love on these people who serve endlessly, and to provide for these children! Again, message me at cafranktie@aol.com. I am more than willing to pick them up from you!

It would be an honor to have you serve alongside of us.

Because of God's GREAT faithfulness ~

Catie