Prayers for Foster Carers

Could we pray especially for children waiting to come into foster care that they find love and safety soon? 

Pray for one of my foster kids that she would have peace in her mind from all the trauma that she has experienced. Also pray for where the right home for her is: if it’s with us or with someone else. One of my kids has additional needs and requires extra support. 

For my other foster kids, that they have peace and patience in their hearts to stay with us until they are 18.

For me and my husband that we will always have love in our hearts for these children and we don’t get too tired or burnt out but keep going

— Anonymous, foster carer

Pray for families that have adopted or foster or are kinship carers as they navigate this time with social distancing. The home can feel very busy and at time isolating. Pray for families feeling stretched and overwhelmed – families with young children, families with children with disabilities, families with teenagers. Pray for community and for support in new and creative ways. May we as Church wrap around families at this time.

Pray for children who find themselves in vulnerable settings. With the National Domestic Abuse Helpline reporting a 25% increase in calls since Lockdown began in the UK, we know there are children who will be experiencing violence or abuse in their home with few touchpoints for them to be identified. Pray for supernatural protection and for safety. Pray particularly for children with disabilities and teenagers as there appears to be a greater need for support there at this time.

Pray for the Trusts as they navigate this time in terms of recruitment and support. Pray for good decisions to ensure children are being placed into homes for good and that carers feel supported. Pray for social workers that as they manage their work in unusual times that they will be resourced and equipped to be efficient and for them to know they are making a difference.

Pray for the Church, God’s people – that they will see the role they need to play at this time in caring for vulnerable children. May they know God’s call to ​‘learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.’ Isaiah 1:17

— Home For Good

The main prayer request from Madlug at the moment is that, due a lot of trusts being closed, some kids are forgotten about whilst others are getting a poorer level of support.

Also, we need to pray for kids in care with different learning needs as well as the struggle faced by kids who are adjusting to a new way of learning at home.

Finally, can we pray for foster carers who maybe aren’t sure where to start with them in terms of homeschooling?

Thank

— Grace, Madlug

Please pray for:

• Our foster carers in these unprecedented times. 
• In many cases, they are not only managing to care for and home school their own children but care for their foster children too. This can be complex as we know that many children who have suffered trauma are struggling to adapt to a loss of their normal routine and are missing out on face-to-face contact with their birth families.
• Those foster carers who are making themselves available to foster during the pandemic:
• There are still foster carers who are open and willing to take in children who need a loving home at this time. This opens them up to the risk of exposure to the virus and often puts extra pressure on them to care for a child who is not in school. 
• Fostering and adoption teams 
• As we try to find new ways of ensuring our assessments of potential new foster carers and adoptive parents continues without delay. We are having to adapt to new ways of working and finding solutions to not being able to visit with people face to face as often as we’d like.
• For teenagers, we are unable to find foster homes for. To date, we are struggling most to find foster homes for children aged 13+. Pray that more foster carers might open their homes and their hearts to an older child who needs a safe place to live. 

— Lisa, social worker, Southern Trust