3 minute read
A LETTER FROM Our Founder
“Community Beyond the System” is a term first coined by my older brother, Jessi.
During a conversation in the early days of Foster Village, I was telling him the heart behind our mission and trying to find concise words to explain the significance of an engaged community despite a broken system.
It had been an especially discouraging week of advocacy work within the system, and the hopeless feeling that “it will always be a broken system” was overwhelming.
That same week, however, I was seeing the power of people rallying together to ensure that kids received the necessities and care they needed. When we put the word out about children entering foster care as emergency placements, neighbors responded within minutes, willing to show up and be part of a village for both these vulnerable children and those opening their homes to them.
While the system remained broken, the community only grew stronger in the ways that they continued to show up to meet the needs.
As I explained this juxtaposition to Jessi, he said, “It sounds like you see the solution to the brokenness as community beyond the system.”
That’s when our motto was born. The system is complex, messy, and full of well-intended barriers and broken solutions to broken realities. While we can and should continue efforts to improve the child welfare system, it will never be perfect.
Children and families in crisis will always have unique needs beyond what any system can meet without the critical component of human connection. People within communities can be creative, compassionate, and ready to bridge the gaps, one child – one family – at a time.
Seven years later, I know this is true, not only through the vision God gave me for what is possible, but also in the real-life outcomes we continue to see through this mission. We have seen this community wrap around thousands of children and families, coming alongside them with the support and unique resources each individual needs.
We have seen families restored and connected to each other, we have seen parents and children surrounded in supernatural ways, and we have seen beauty from ashes time and time again.
The common thread in every success story and small victory is simple:
Community Beyond the System.
As long as a child welfare system is needed (and it sadly is needed now more than ever), may we continue to build and strengthen the community beyond it, which holds the key to restoration and hope for our most vulnerable neighbors.
Thank you for continuing to pioneer this mission alongside us. Your support and investment are truly changing the lives of generations.
