We are licensed Foster Parents for the State or Hawaii!
It is with excitement Brian and I share that we are officially licensed Foster Parents for the state of Hawaii, and will be fostering Hawaii children in our home!
Since January ‘20 (with many delays due to the pandemic,) we have been going through foster parent licensing, training, FBI / state background checks, and rigorous home study interviews.
We first heard about the need for foster parents in Hawaii through Harvest Family Life Hawaii at Manna Church. We feel that we are being called to step up as foster parents; that it is our “Kuleana” - duty to open our home and hearts to provide a stable and safe home for foster children, many who come from backgrounds of trauma, abuse, and neglect. With the pandemic and shelter at home orders, there’s been an increase in the number of children living in these situations.
The goal of foster care is to provide a safe and stable home for children until they are ready to be reunified with their birth families. If reunification options are exhausted, we will very seriously consider adopting a child when the timing is right.
As parents ourselves we can’t fathom how children end up in these situations that are no fault of their own. Hence this “nudge” that kept tugging at our hearts turned into a licensing journey that began 9 months ago, right before the pandemic started.
In Hawaii alone there are 2,000 foster children in the system and in the US there are nearly half a million foster children. The stats are staggering - of children who age out of the system 1/4 are incarcerated, only 1/2 graduate from high school, and 20% end up homeless as adults. 60% of child sex trafficking victims are foster children.
Every day we are on stand by, waiting for our very first placement by the Dept of Human Services. We could get that call immediately, or several of weeks or months out. Some children may stay with us for a few days or few weeks; others several of months even several of years.
We are ready for whatever child placements come our way. Let the foster care journey begin!
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