Serving Arizona Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
May – June 2019 • Vol 45 • No 3 • Est 1975
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Receive One Such
Little Child In My Name
Valley Saints Open Their Hearts and Homes to Foster Children Over 14,000 children in Arizona are currently in the foster care system.
By Merry Gordon
T
he Savior taught that “whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me”—and now, perhaps more than ever, there are many children with arms outstretched waiting to be received. This May marks National Foster Care Month, a time to both build awareness for the thousands of children in Arizona who need out-ofhome care and to show appreciation for the many families who step in to
help these children in crisis. Foster care is intended to be a temporary placement for children who, for whatever reason, cannot live in their homes. Over 14,000 children in Arizona are currently in the foster care system. Often victims of neglect, abuse, poverty, or any other number of issues, these children have a special place in the hearts of many Latter-day Saint families who have opened their homes to them. Every foster family’s story is dif-
ferent. Rachael Thompson got the call from Child Protective Services on Christmas Eve of 2011: a baby girl had been abandoned at the NICU. At only four pounds, she would come with an entourage of therapists and nurses and present a challenge to the Peoria North Stake’s Thompson family, who already had three biological children and one child recently adopted through foster care. The Thompsons were not yet looking for another foster placement—after all, their adoption had just
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been finalized. Would they open their home to this little girl? For Thompson, a foster parent since 2010, there was no question. “We immediately said ‘yes’ to the placement,” she says, adding that her family “felt a pull to this child.” Within a few years, the Thompsons had adopted the sweet little girl who completed their family. Such life-changing experiences
ArizonaBeehive.com •
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