“I read a newspaper article about
how a girl had to live through foster
care and I thought, ‘Somebody should
do something!’ I very vividly felt the
Holy Spirit say, ‘You’re somebody, do
something!’”
The Holy Spirit continued to grow
this desire in her heart and the Smiths
started fostering in 2007. In 2009, a
friend at their home church, Grace
Point, approached her about starting a
foster ministry with like-minded
families. The Smiths now have four
children – three daughters ages 14-11
and a six-year-old son – two are
biological, and two they adopted out of
foster care. They served as a foster
family for eight years serving four
children.
“You learn a lot,” Smith said. “That’s
what I get to hand off, how to be the
best advocate for
your kids. It is
like the Cliff
Notes of fostering.”
For example,
when they
started fostering
they felt very
alone and isolated.
Their friends
and family
wanted to help
but didn’t know
what to do or
how to best
“ I don’t think
that I’ve ever
met anyone who
thought it is ok
that kids are
abused and
neglected.”
– Jennifer Smith
Founder and Executive Director,
South Texas Alliance for Orphans
support them. They didn’t have a
support team to help lighten the load
of fostering and thus struggled to meet
all the demands of life with three small
children, work and household needs.
Their church was also not equipped or
educated on the unique needs of
children in foster care who have
experienced trauma. She drew from
experiences like these to create what
became the South Texas Alliance for
Orphans.
Smith connected with First
Presbyterian Church and subsequent
board member Teresa McCaleb, who
provided a monetary grant to launch
the ministry just a little more than two
years ago. “The series of ensuing events
since have been nothing short of
Thank you to Rolle & Associates for making this story possible to share.
Alliance team hosting the Babysitting Collaborative to
ensure foster families have the support they need to
serve children. To date 271 babysitters (up to 72 hours)
have stepped up.
miraculous,” Smith said. Now the
ministry supports 30 churches, with 15
more in early stages of commitments,
and keeps a staff of five busy.
“Our whole mission involves equipping
and serving the Church as they
engage in foster care, adoption and
kinship ministry,” she said. “These kids
have no money, no hope, no representation.
We can be a very loud voice for
children who have no voice,” she
added.
Alliance for Orphans has a threestep
strategy to show churches needs
and provide them with ways to get
involved to help children heal. The
strategy is to create a ministry
composed of Core, Crowd and Community
within each church.
The first step – someone in leadership
at a church or a church member
who knows something about the foster
community reaches out to the South
Texas Alliance for Orphans for information.
First Presbyterian Church hosted a Parent’s Day Out for
foster families giving them a well deserved break.
“A speaker and resources are
provided to host a Core event to see
who in the church might be on the
front lines,” she said.
“Are there foster families who are
drowning we don’t know about? Let’s
make sure the childcare ministry is
welcoming and can serve the needs of
children in foster care. It’s taking care
of the people who are already there.”
The next step – Crowd, involves
everyone in the church. The pastor will
preach about God’s heart for the
orphan. Alliance for Orphans and
Smith facilitate an informational
meeting to walk the congregation
Grace Point Church and the Alliance host yearly foster/
adopt informational meetings to help connect their
church family with the many ways to serve children
and families impacted by the foster care system.
C12 created and hosted the CONNECTED event to help struggling families connect with verified babysitters, experts
and organizations in a fun, relaxed event.
5 www.saBeacon.com November 2018
/www.saBeacon.com
