Fostering Compassion

Care for the least of these. Stand with those who do.

We help local churches organize lasting care for children, families, and widows. We also connect them with trusted missionaries and child protection partners at home and abroad.

Ways to give and serve See how we work

Why we exist

A need this large calls for a community.

A parent in crisis may need help with meals or transportation. A foster family may need people who keep showing up after a placement. A widow may need a visit that grows into a friendship. Churches can bring people together to respond and stay involved.

“Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:17 (NKJV)

Our biblical foundation

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…”

James 1:27 (NKJV)

James calls care for orphans and widows pure religion. If mercy matters more to God than religious display, how much more should the people He loves matter to us?

“I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Matthew 12:7 (NKJV)

What we do

Practical care where it is needed.

01 / STRENGTHEN

Help families in crisis

Connect parents with practical help so children can remain safely at home whenever possible.

02 / SURROUND

Support children and caregivers

Help foster, kinship, and adoptive caregivers provide stable homes through practical support and dependable relationships.

03 / VISIT

Care for widows

Visit widows, listen to their needs, and offer practical help through lasting relationships.

04 / PARTNER

Back frontline ministries

Support trusted missionaries, groups caring for children in orphanages, and qualified organizations that prevent trafficking and help survivors.

Why these needs belong together

One calling takes many forms.

Foster care is one part of our mission. Families in crisis, widows, and people serving vulnerable communities also need practical help and lasting relationships. We help churches listen to the people involved and respond in ways they can sustain.

Our work focuses on U.S. churches and communities. Through trusted partners, we also support missionaries, orphanages, and anti-trafficking work around the world. When children live in residential care, we value their safety and family connections. About alternative care ↗

Our approach

Build a ministry that lasts.

We help church leaders identify a need, organize volunteers, prepare them for the work, and check whether their care is helping.

See the need

Listen to families, caregivers, local service providers, and church members to learn what the community needs.

Build the team

Appoint a church leader, define volunteer roles, and invite the congregation to take part. We help communicate the plan.

Equip for the role

Match screening and training to each role. Connect prospective foster and adoptive parents with the approvals their state requires. For churches that want to host training, we can help them work with the responsible agency on state requirements while they teach from their biblical convictions.

Stay involved

Ask families and partners what is working, support volunteers, and adjust the ministry as needs change.

For churches

Your church can lead a Fostering Compassion ministry.

Our heart

Your church sets the priorities and leads the work. We help you make a plan, prepare volunteers, and find reliable partners for a ministry your congregation can sustain.

Where your church can serve

Members can serve by opening a home, helping a neighbor, or standing with trusted ministry partners.

01 / PREVENT

Help families stay together

Help parents address urgent needs so children can remain safely with their families whenever possible.

02 / SURROUND

Support foster and adoptive families

Bring meals, supplies, transportation, and approved respite to foster, kinship, and adoptive caregivers.

03 / WELCOME

Open your home

Welcome a child through foster care, kinship care, or adoption after completing the required approval process. Protect the child’s safety and family connections.

04 / VISIT

Care for widows

Visit widows, listen to them, and help with practical needs as real relationships grow.

05 / SEND

Stand with global partners

Pray for and support trusted missionaries and organizations caring for children in orphanages.

06 / PROTECT

Support anti-trafficking work

Partner with qualified anti-trafficking organizations that protect vulnerable people and help survivors rebuild.

Church partnership

What partnership asks of a church

Start with the needs and capacity of your congregation. You can grow into more roles over time.

Lead it locally. Use the Fostering Compassion name, logo, and materials for a ministry led by your church and connected to our network.
Offer practical action. Give members clear ways to serve, with appropriate screening and training for each role.
Work together. Coordinate with partner ministries and training programs. When a local collaboration committee exists, appoint a church representative.
Share our foundation. Affirm the Apostles’ Creed as our shared statement of Christian faith.

Let’s talk about a responsible starting point for your church.

Talk with Liz

Foster care: one urgent example

What if every church stood with one child?

A church can welcome a child, strengthen a family before separation, or stand beside the people already caring for them.

331,747children in U.S. foster care
September 30, 2025

~335,000Protestant and other Christian congregations
Hartford Institute estimate

One church can begin by standing with one child or family.

Each congregation could make one concrete commitment: help a family stay safely together, support a caregiver, or prepare to welcome a child. Roles differ according to local needs and capacity.

The child count is from 2025, while the congregation figure is an estimate from a different period. This comparison does not represent available homes or mean every child needs a new placement. Safe decisions, family reunification when possible, and accountable child welfare services remain essential. Sources: U.S. Children’s Bureau, AFCARS 2025 ↗ and Hartford Institute ↗.

The risks behind the numbers

Support must last beyond placement.

These findings show why children and young adults need support that lasts beyond the first placement.

17%

Trafficking risk among children missing from care

Among children missing from care who were reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2025, 17% were identified as likely victims of child sex trafficking.

NCMEC, 2025 data ↗

26%

Homelessness reported at age 21

In a federal survey of young people with foster care experience, 26% of respondents at age 21 said they had experienced homelessness during the previous two years.

Children’s Bureau, NYTD Data Brief 8 ↗

17%

Incarceration reported at age 21

In the same federal survey, 17% of respondents at age 21 said they had been incarcerated during the previous two years for an alleged crime. This result describes the young adults surveyed, not all former foster youth.

Children’s Bureau, NYTD Data Brief 8 ↗

Each percentage describes the group and period named above. None is a national rate for all children in foster care, and the data do not show that foster care caused these outcomes.

Who is accountable?

Children are not a revenue line.

Some states hire private organizations to place children and manage foster care cases. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, those organizations may be nonprofit or for-profit, and some are paid based on placements. In Texas, regional contractors handle placement and case management. Funding needs oversight that puts children’s well-being first.

GAO report ↗Texas Community-Based Care ↗

Our story

Our home became part of the calling.

Liz and I married in 1999. We met during my first pastorate, when she was a college intern in youth ministry. We began ministering together before our wedding and have included our children in that work as our family has grown.

We did not plan to build a ministry around foster care and adoption. In 2009, Liz felt during prayer that the Lord was leading us to adopt Cloe, a little girl we barely knew. We had no idea her grandparents were considering adoption. Later, they came to us for counsel about Cloe’s future. Only then did Liz tell me what she had sensed in prayer. Cloe joined our family that May, and we finalized her adoption in April 2010.

In 2011, we felt called to pursue adoption through foster care. We completed a home study and became licensed foster parents in San Diego County, then received certification again after moving to Salem. On September 23, 2013, we welcomed three brothers into our home: twins and their baby brother. In 2015, three nieces and a nephew needed a safe place to live, so we opened our home again. We later became legal guardians to two of our nieces. Those relatives are now adults living on their own.

Liz has poured years of ministry into raising our children. We want them to know God’s Word, love Him wholeheartedly, and serve others. Our family has changed a great deal since we first shared this story. Here is a glimpse of our children today:

Our family in 2026

Abigail, 23, is a manager at a juice company.
Analiese, 20, is married, manages a coffee shop, and volunteers in youth ministry.
Alexa, 20, serves as a missionary and youth ministry leader.
Cloe, 20, works at a coffee shop and loves pickup trucks and Jesus.
Ezeckiel and Elijaha, both 14, are our twin sons. Elijaha plays football and serves in youth group.
Exaviar, 13, plays basketball and helps lead worship in youth programs.

When a family welcomes a child, they need their church to keep showing up.

Our family’s experience widened our calling. Today, we help churches build steady support for children, families, widows, and trusted ministry partners.

Our family, then and now