Foster and Adoption Ministry (FAM)

We have the opportunity and biblical obligation to be advocates for and care for those who have no voice in this world (James 1:27). For families interested in adoption, foster care or both, we provide a network to assist the initial process and the life-long journey of raising these children, and to serve the children and families in our community and around the world who are a part of foster care and adoption.

Meeting Times

Mom's and Mom's-to-be Coffee Night

Once a month moms and moms-to-be leave the kids at home and head to Starbucks for a time to share and laugh together. We meet every second Wednesday night of the month at 7:30 pm in Flower Mound at the Starbucks located at the Starbucks in the Tom Thumb shopping center at the corner of Garden Ridge and Cross Timbers (1171). The date changes occasionally, so if you plan on coming, contact Kristin Donovan via our online contact form just to confirm.

Waiting Families

For many, the waiting process can be a real challenge — but it is easier to "wait well" with friends and others who understand and are also traveling the adoption and foster care journey. FAM's waiting families group provides a small group setting that is ideal for connecting with others who are in the waiting stage.

We meet monthly to encourage, support and pray for one another. It's nothing formal — we just share stories, talk about what is going on and, of course, enjoy a little dessert. The groups are open to all who are in the adoption or foster care waiting process — and certainly those who are just "thinking about" adoption or foster care are welcome too.

The Waiting Families group meets every third Saturday in Flower Mound at the home of Matt and Kristin Donovan. You can read about their foster/adoption journey and contact them via our online contact form.

Ways to Serve

If you sense a calling to minister to foster and adoptive children and their families, here are a handful of ways you can help:

• Event Support — FAM frequently puts on events, usually these are evening seminars where we share stories from families in FAM or hear a talk from a speaker on a certain topic. We try to have dedicated greeters at these events to welcome newcomers and make them feel comfortable. We also need people to provide snacks and drinks and help setup and tear-down tables.
• Small Group Host (Waiting Families Group) — Whether on the journey to adoption, foster care, or foster-to-adopt, waiting can be the toughest part. The Waiting Families Small Group meets monthly with the sole aim of "waiting well" together. People hosting this group have the privilege of opening their home once per month, providing dessert and facilitating discussion among waiting couples and singles.
• Meal Provider — When a new foster child is placed with one of our families or a new child comes home to an adoptive family, we spring to action and try to provide that home with a week's worth of meals. People joining this network should be prepared to provide a meal (home-cooked, store bought, or takeout) with about 1 or 2 days notice.
• Foster Care Buddy — When a home from The Village begins training to become a foster home, we work with them to identify a five-person resource network of "foster buddies" from their existing relationships. The FAM leadership partners with that foster home to-be and contacts those resource candidates in order to distribute volunteer applications, identify a resource lead (the foster home's first and main point of contact), and provide light, albeit ongoing, oversight and support.
  
  Sometimes a family is unable to identify five willing resource candidates, so Foster Care Buddies may volunteer to serve the FAM community in general and wait to be connected with a family in need of someone to walk with them.
• FAM Mentors — These mentors are people who have walked the foster care and/or adoption road for a couple of years and are in a position to provide feedback and encouragement to couples and singles just beginning. These mentors should be emotionally available to share in other's grief and joy. The time commitment is as varied as people's needs and is an expectation that is set early on.
• TRAC Mentors (through TRAC) — TRAC Mentors are people who choose to be friends, coaches, cheerleaders, confidants, advisors and tutors to foster kids aging out of the foster system.