The Broken System - Part Four, Our Response

When you live with a broken system of childcare you must step in and do something. We are all in this together. We must let our hearts break for the things that break God's heart. Children hurting and neglected would qualify here.

Everyone has a part to play. For us it was bringing a boy into our home to help a family out. This boy was in a very bad condition and the immediate need was to relieve this. After this was taken care of a plan was drawn that would clarify the things that a family needs to properly raise children. Many resources were available and we walked this path with the family.

After a long period of time the family proved not able to do the things that were needed to give their children a safe environment. Because children need permanency we adopted our little guy to make this a possibility. This does not relieve the situation though all together. The birth family still  needs people to walk along with them and help them as they can reach their full God-given potential.

This is tricky though, when people refuse to walk the recovery road you cannot force them. It puts you in a position to care for them but not enable them. In our situation we communicate and pray for them. We visit with them and they know their children are well cared for. We also have an opportunity to visit together with them. We pray for them hoping and cheering them on to be what they can be. We wait until they decide to live up to it.

That is just the basics of our story. Many of us can identify families who just  need extra encouragement. We can all speak life into situations we see around us. We can encourage the weary mom. We can offer to walk alongside them on a hard path. We can all pray for them. The fact is we must all be intentional. Being intentional in loving others around us well is what repairs a broken system. People helping people is key. May the Lord give us eyes to see and do what we can. He has given us all different abilities and different opportunities to help. What can you do?