Clearing barriers for foster parents

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 27th of November.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up: President Trump, foster care and the Bible.

DONALD TRUMP: The Bible tells us that one of the measures of any society is how it cares for vulnerable children and orphans…so important and so big in the Bible. As we make America great again, we’re going to protect American children in foster care and we’re going to ensure that they will never ever be forgotten. These children will never be forgotten. And they’re going to grow up to be unbelievable, strong, smart, wealthy, productive citizens.

President Trump two weeks ago issuing an executive order, supporting children and families in the foster care system.

BROWN: Joining us now to talk about it is Herbie Newell, President of Lifeline Children Services, one of the largest evangelical adoption agencies in the U.S.

Good Morning Herbie.

NEWELL: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Thanks for being here. Let’s start with the need and the numbers. How many children are currently in the foster care system right now.

NEWELL: Obviously, every year you have some that are aging out or that are being reunited or adopted, and then you have many more that are coming in. But over the last several years, we've seen on average, 400,000 kids in our foster care system.

BROWN: And the average age, I understand, is under ten right?

NEWELL: That's correct.

BROWN: Tell us about the shortage of qualified families willing to care and nurture these children in their homes.

NEWELL: I think a lot of families that step forward to take care of children are typically thinking about having infants in their home. And so it really takes a special family and a special place, not only to be willing to say, ‘I'm going to take an eight or 10 year old into my home who's never been in my home previously,’ but also ‘I'm going to do it in a temporary standpoint, where I don't know how long this child will be in my home and I really don't know what the future prospects look like.’

BROWN: That’s a commitment for sure. I know you are grateful for the executive order, but what kind of influence will this order have on, for instance, states like California and Colorado, that are hostile to Christian foster parents who refuse to affirm the LGBTQ agenda.

NEWELL: Yeah, I think really, what it's saying is that can no longer be the case. We can no longer hold two classes of foster families, one that is Christian, that have a Bible belief of the way that family is orchestrated, of the way that gender is orchestrated, and the other that's much more of a progressive, family-altering mindset. And so now it's really telling states like California, and even lately, we've seen a family in Massachusetts that had their foster children removed because of their Christian belief. It's this executive order saying you can no longer do that. The federal system is going to protect religious liberty. The federal system is going to allow families to be able to practice their own faith and beliefs in their home, as long, of course, as that doesn't physically harm a child by any means.

BROWN: Right, Right. Well then, there’s another disturbing trend that is infiltrating the foster care system…something called platonic co-parenthood… tell us about that and how it undermines God’s design of family.

NEWELL: Absolutely, you know, platonic parenting reflects just this deeper cultural shift that we see in these attacks against God's design for the family. And really as believers who are steeped in God's Word, we shouldn't be surprised. There was an article recently in the New York Post that actually gave the situation of two female friends, again, not in an LGBTQ-IA+ type of relationship, just two friends who were going to bring their children into a home believing that they didn't need a father. And what we believe is obviously God's design was for a man and a woman to be able to supply all the different needs of a child. And so when someone says, ‘I can't imagine raising a child with a man,’ that tells us that something is broken because fatherhood nor motherhood are disposable roles in the life of a child.

BROWN: The president has directed the Health and Human Services Secretary to increase partnerships with faith-based organizations like yours. Are you hopeful?

NEWELL: I'm very hopeful from the last Trump administration, I can tell you, we were invited to three round tables with the Domestic Policy Council as well as HHS to talk about how to have faith and not just faith leaders, but faith leaders and secular leaders coming together to say, how do we join forces and really help as many children as possible? I think it's important to note that of the families we have that are currently fostering, two to three times as many are Christian, Bible believing people. And so it really is important when most of our foster families in the United States are people of faith and people of Christian faith that believe in the word of God and hold the Word of God as not only their standard, but also as their calling to get into this work.

BROWN: Speaking of the Word of God, President Trump reiterates the Biblical mandate to care for orphans…by extension, children in foster care. How does his order help Christians do a better job of showing the love of Jesus to these children who have no parents or whose parents have failed them.

NEWELL: Yeah, that's a great question. I think it definitely like I said, it gives an invitation to the table on many policy matters that are impacting children in foster care all around our country. I think what I would tell believers that are listening to this though, is as exciting as this executive order is as exciting as it is to be invited to the table. We really don't need this permission slip to get engaged and get involved. And I think the call for Christians is to celebrate that the federal government is recognizing our place.

At the same time, realize that God's call is greater than politics. God's call is greater than executive orders, and our mandate is to care for those in our neighborhoods. It's to care for those in our community, and it's to be the salt and the light. And so I pray that Christians will take advantage of this opportunity to be heard, to get engaged, to get engaged with our system. But I pray that we wouldn't shrink back in other times, but that we would continue to press forward by showing the love of Christ to a vulnerable mom who may be at risk of losing her kids. That we would show the love of Christ to broken families. We would show the love of Christ to kids that are vulnerable. Yes, grateful for the executive order, but we don't necessarily need an executive order to still get engaged, as we can get engaged in our local areas and in our states.

BROWN: Being faithful to the call, yes. Well, Herbie Newell, President of Lifeline Children Services, thank you so much for joining us, being with us today.

NEWELL: Thank you so much for having me.

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