What’s it like to be in Foster Care? One child said, “It was scary. I went to live with a family I didn’t know. I wanted my mom. I felt alone, wondering WHY?” In the US, there are 430,000 children in foster care. The state of South Carolina has 4377 children in foster care. Richland County has 520 children in foster care, with only 115 foster care homes. A quarter of these children will live in foster care for over two years. Ages of children in foster care range from 0-24 years. Children who have been removed from their homes experience trauma, anxiety and loss. Their roadmap is uncertain.

RSC has partnered with the Forgotten Initiative serving the Foster Care Community in the Midlands of SC. Many people know someone who is fostering children or fostering to adopt or is a caseworker with DSS or otherwise involved with children in foster care, but may not know all the ways they need help. The foster care community needs us and we need them. We have been given strengths, life experiences, and resources that we can use to help those who are feeling overwhelmed, misunderstood or forgotten. The foster care community does not just involve the children; it includes the foster families, the DSS caseworkers, Law Enforcement, respite caregivers, Richland County group homes, mentors, advocates & policymakers, youth aging out of foster care and the list goes on with so many involved. When we support and pray for agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children we have the opportunity to show Jesus to them. By entering into a relationship with the foster care community, we are changed too. We are drawn to Jesus in new ways, our perspective is shifted and our need for Jesus is made more apparent.

We will be serving the families in Richland County. If you want to be part of this local mission, have a specific interest in the foster care community or want to be part of the planning team working through this year partnering with The Forgotten Initiative please contact missions@riverspirngs.org.  We will have many ways to connect and become part of the RSC Foster Care Community as we work together with The Forgotten Initiative to meet physical needs, relational needs, systemic needs, children’s needs & family’s needs for Richland County.