Many claim that the “pro-life movement” is actually just a “pro-birth” movement. The implication is this: people who want to see an end to abortion have no interest or intention of helping those same children once they are born. To support this claim, many will point to our nation’s overflowing foster care system. If people really cared about life, wouldn’t things be much different for children in need of care and forever families?
We discuss this and other topics in our latest episode of The Empowered Advocate podcast. Joining us is founder and Executive Director of The Family Room, Carrie Thompson. The Family Room is a local organization that exists to meet the practical needs of children and teens in foster care.
Carrie shares her family’s own story of fostering and adopting their two sons. She discusses the struggles, challenges, and joys of her experience, while also addressing some common misconceptions about foster care.
If you’ve ever considered becoming a foster parent, wondered how the foster care system really works, or wanted to help foster parents in a practical way, you won’t want to miss this episode.
“To me, [foster care] is the gospel in a nutshell. Let me take care of your child, and love them and care for them, so that you can get better and get your kids back. What better way to support choosing life for someone but by stepping up and helping them long term and saying, you know what, I’m not just going to take care of this kid so that I can be a mom, but so that
you can be a mom.”– Carrie Thompson, Executive Director of The Family Room
Listen to the episode below, watch it on YouTube, or click here to subscribe and listen on your phone. You can also view the timestamps below to jump to the topic that interests you most.
Show Notes
0:00 – Introduction to Carrie Thompson, Executive Director of the family room
0:57 – Carrie shares how her family started their foster care journey
3:25 – Misconceptions about foster care. What is the purpose of the foster care system?
5:20 – 48% of children who go into foster care are able to go back to their biological families.
6:00 – Carrie shares some of the most surprising parts of their foster care experience
7:30 – What challenges did you face once you brought your son home for the first time?
8:45 – How did bringing home foster children affect the biological children already in the home?
12:00 – Carrie shares the story of how they adopted their two sons
16:25 – Carrie shares about the challenges of having children of two different ethnicities
22:25 – How did family and friends react to the decision to foster and adopt?
25:30 – What is the difference between being pro-life and pro-birth?
29:30 – The Family Room
33:00 – The importance of community for foster parents
37:30 – Practical ways to help support foster parents through The Family Room
40:00 – What are the first steps to becoming a foster parent?