This guest blog post was provided courtesy of our friends at Nightlight Christian Adoptions.
With the need for foster care homes continuing to rise, we hope to be one resource to those who are looking to make a difference!
Nightlight Christian Adoptions
The word “Nightlight” connotes a warm, safe place for children. We are lighting the path home for children in need. We are lighting your adoption journey. And we are working in the name Jesus, the light of the world, who made it possible for us to be adopted into God’s family. We offer that light to the birth parents, children, foster, and adoptive parents we serve.
In 1997, we pioneered the first embryo adoption program, Snowflakes Embryo Adoption offering this unique adoption choice to families. Couples with remaining embryos now have the option to choose the family who receives their embryo donation gift. The embryo-adopting family gives birth to their adopted child…Amazing! Nightlight programs also include comprehensive International, Foster care, Domestic, and home study services. We assist families in all 50 states with licensed offices in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma. More than 3,000 domestic adoptions, 3,500 international adoptions, and over 1,000 embryo adoptions have been finalized by Nightlight, allowing 1,000 children to be born and adopted that were previously frozen!
Our Domestic adoption program offers counseling services to women and men facing an unplanned pregnancy, regardless of whether they place their child for adoption. Nightlight provides home study, pre-adoption education, and post-adoption services for families residing in states where we are licensed. We recently began offering Foster Care through our Healing Homes Foster Care Program and Anchored in Hope (Adoption from Foster Care) program.
Since our founding in 1959, our board of directors and leadership have remained committed to an evangelical Christian statement of faith, which is evident in our mission statement, and informs our core values and beliefs. However, Nightlight serves all individuals and families, regardless of their faith. Evangelical is who Nightlight is, but not a requirement for those we serve. As James 1:27 calls us to love and look after the orphans, so Nightlight continues to answer that call. We believe as Christians we should answer the call in some capacity and know that Christians are more than twice as likely to foster or adopt.
What is Foster Care?
Children are placed into foster care through no fault of their own but are removed when unsafe situations threaten their physical, mental, or emotional safety. The goal of the foster system is to provide services to the children and their biological parents or original guardian with the goal of a safe reunification and to prevent future instances of abuse. A child abuse or neglect case will be filed, and the child will move to live with either extended family members (kin), a foster family, a group home, or a residential care facility. Often, the biological parents can follow their safety/treatment plan and gain back custody of the child, or a permanent kinship option may be found. Over time, reunification may become unlikely and the child’s team may move towards Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and focus on permanency for the child through adoption. Becoming a foster parent is a powerful way to support children and families in your community, whether the end result is reunification or adoption.
As of 2022, Indiana ranks as the 4th highest in the US, with nearly 13,000 children in the Indiana foster system and only 6,200 licensed foster homes. Nightlight’s Healing Homes is committed to providing caring and professional services to their foster parents, recognizing their unique needs and backgrounds while advocating for the children who need the love and stability of a family during one of the most difficult times in their lives. We walk parents through the foster care certification process, advocate for matches between children and our foster homes, along with helping families navigate requirements from the state. We offer trauma-focused coaching and emotional support along the way. Through Healing Homes, you will find opportunities to meet other foster parents in the area while developing additional support through foster care events, an annual summer picnic, and meet-ups at coffee shops. It takes a village to raise a child, and we would love to be a part of your village.
Where to Start?
For Indiana residents, if you or someone you know is interested in advocating for the abused and neglected children in the foster care system, here are some practical next steps to take!
- Talk to our Foster Care Advocate, Savana, by phone (317) 875-0058 or email (savana@nightlight.org) & learn about the eligibility requirements to become a foster parent!
- Pray for the children who are in need of & longing for permanency and Nightlight Christian Adoptions as we launch this much-needed program.
- Support the practical needs of foster families and foster children by providing donations. HERE is a list of organizations that offer free or discounted resources to support foster families and children.
- Make a direct donation to Nightlight to support Indiana’s foster care launch, you may do so by following this link. Please include Indiana foster care in your donation memo.
- Help your church start a foster care and adoption ministry.
For foster care programs in other states please visit our website. We understand that not everyone is meant to become a foster parent, but we believe that everyone can play a role in securing permanency for children!
And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18:5