Preface Not Enough?

“We live in a world in which we need

to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the

need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

—Fred Rogers

Not Enough? 3

Two of the most common words associated with foster care in the United States are “not enough.”

• Not enough resources to meet all of the needs. • Not enough support for struggling biological, kinship, foster, and adoptive families. • Not enough families for kids who need them.

But it doesn’t have to be that way where you live. There are easily enough resources, enough support, and enough families in your community to solve the foster care crisis in your county. In fact, there are more than enough.

Rarely do problems persist because there aren’t resources to solve them. The necessary resources are almost always there. It is usually a matter of figuring out a way to route the resources that exist to the needs that persist. The resources, support, and families that are in your community need a little help getting from where they are to the place where they are needed most.

That is where you come in.

Rarely do problems persist because there aren’t resources to solve them. The necessary resources are almost always there. It is usually a matter of figuring out a way to route the resources that exist to the needs that persist.

In 2018, a team of twenty people in Germany set up over 600,000minidominoesinanefforttobreakaGuinnessBook WorldRecord.Eachdominowasaboutthesizeofafingernail, and the team had spent two weeks setting them up.

Andthen,asingle,curious,wanderingfly,observing the beautiful patterns of the dominoes below, came in for a closer look. He decided to land for just a quick second to see what was going on. It is probably safe to assume that this little fella had never accomplished anything of note during his twenty-eight days of life expectancy. But, in an instant, he stumbled onto something beyond comprehension. It is something he still doesn’t comprehend (both because hehasaflybrainandbecause,well,he’sdeadbynow).As helandedonthatonedomino,hesetoff achainreaction that made international news.1 A single fly rarely makes international news. He never set out to topple 600,000 dominos. His only intention was to land on one.

Maybeyouwereonceacurious,wanderingflywho,at some point, noticed the enormous number of children and families devastated by abuse, neglect, addiction, poverty, and isolation. Then one day, you decided to come in for a closer look. Maybe you volunteered to help out with at-risk kids in the community. Or you became a mentor. Or you enrolledinyourfirstsocialworkclass.Oryoutookameal over to those people from church who just became foster parents. Or you went on a mission trip. Or you showed up at an informational meeting about adoption or foster care. You landed on a domino.

Not Enough? 5

The next thing you know, stuff is starting to happen. Not only are you having an impact on a child in your home or your community, but you’re having an impact on several other people. Your friends are asking you to dinner because they’ve seen what you’re doing and they want to learn more. Suddenly, you realize that God didn’t just bring you into this to impact a life or two. He has a much bigger assignment in mind. And then, all heaven breaks loose.

And there you are—a fly—not even beginning to comprehend the impact you’re having on generations of families to come, but also the impact you’re having on eternity. You thought you were just landing on a domino. You were so wrong.

While you may not have set out to do anything more than land on one domino for a closer look, you are now passionateaboutkidsandfamilies.Andyoufindyourself wondering what you should do next.

That brings us to the point of this guide: What if you were able to work with the right people, on the right things, in the right way in order to transform foster care where you live? If that were to happen, I believe you could see more than enough become a reality for children and families inyourcounty. Bythetimeyougetdonewiththisbook,I hope you believe it too.

Suddenly, you realize that God didn’t just bring you into this to impact a life or two. He has a much bigger assignment in mind.

This guide is a collection of insights from observing a lot of people just like you who have been seeing great results in their own counties in foster care transformation. Not only are they passionate about the children and families theyfightfor,theyarealsogenerouswiththethingsthey’ve learned. Drawing from their experiences and my own, the pagesof thisbookreflectasetof principlesandpractices thatcanhelpyoufindalliesandworktogethertomakea bigger impact than you ever could by yourself.

It’s time for the children and families in your county— to go from having not enough to having more than enough. Dominos are everywhere and your job is not to knock them all down. Your job has only ever been to land on one. After that, you become part of something much larger, muchmessier,andmuchmoremagnificentthanyouever dreamed.