Mentorship & Foster Care

The Case For Mentorship & Foster Care

Here I am, 50, single and childless, praying earnestly for a family of my own, instead, God has been positioning me to be salt and light in the lives of a few of His masterpieces through service in the areas of Mentorship and Foster Care.

Mentorship

For many years, I played a lead role in the philanthropic strategy for a multinational entity whose focus was on education. This gave me an opportunity to touch the lives of thousands of youths in Jamaica. I was able to impact lives through the creation of a mentorship programme wherein scholars who indicated that they needed a mentor were matched with an employee who was screened, trained and supported throughout their involvement with the programme.

As Coordinator of the programme though I was not assigned to only one scholar, I bonded with many, and a mentee group morphed into a family. We enjoyed various activities periodically which included dinners, lunches, barbecues and beach trips.

This family became one that facilitated the achievement of dreams and goals as it provided a major source of encouragement, an avenue of self-expression and escape. Moreover, the mentees were now exposed to the vast possibilities outside of their seemingly bleak situations which ultimately caused them to rise to achieve their promising potentials. Their testimonies leave individuals inspired and awestruck at their accomplishments against all odds.

This Family inspired a burgeoning strategist who despite seeing the violent death of her father while battling the debilitating scoliosis illness, was able to achieve the coveted Governor General’s Award for scholastic excellence.

She continued maintaining high grades throughout high school and university while caring for an ailing mother all the while negotiating life in the inner-city community of Western Kingston. She is now a wife, expectant mother of twins and strategist with one of Jamaica’s premier companies. This family also nurtured and mentored a visionary community leader, who upon witnessing the death of his best friend was inspired to commit himself to show youths in his community and in communities across the globe that there are alternatives to a life of idleness and crime. He is now a global activist, entrepreneur and Private Sector executive. He has demonstrated that through faith in God, hard work and determination, goals can be achieved.

This same family was a source of encouragement to an aspiring musician, who was tasked with the responsibility of supporting a family of six during his teen and young adult years. However, he never lost sight of his dreams and is today a successful gospel musician and husband.

This family again, provided added support and encouragement to a brilliant mind as he traversed the harsh streets of Down Town Kingston, peddling his goods to help his mother feed a family of nine until he got to the halls of a Michigan University. Today, he is a qualified Engineer working for one of the largest car manufacturers in the world!

There are many more stories to be told, and although I did not give birth to these young lives I played a role in nurturing them. What is clear to me now, is that if I had a regular nuclear family, I would not have been able to bring this extended family together and would’ve probably lost the opportunity to be God’s hand extended in the manner I was able to. This was perhaps the ‘mothering’ role God purposed for me in that season!

Foster Care

In 2019, I became the Director of Jamaica’s first non-Government Foster Care Agency sponsored by Family Life Ministries (FLM) in Jamaica. The For The Child (FTC) Foster Care programme provides Christian homes for children in difficult circumstances, who are in need of a loving home and counselling support. The programme offers a therapeutic family environment, counselling for foster parents and child as well as a monthly parenting workshop for the families. Parents are recruited from the church community in Jamaica and they must be Christians, residents of Jamaica and meet certain criteria established by the programme. Christian Communities in Jamaica and the Diaspora are being called upon to support this move of God to rescue vulnerable children in Jamaica. to deprive the fatherless of justice” and when they are harvesting their fields, leave enough for the fatherless and the widow with the promise that if you do “the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands”. Additionally, Psalm 68:5 states that God is a “Father to the fatherless…God places the lonely in families”.

The Bible is very clear on how we are to treat the vulnerable and the lonely. In Exodus 22:22-23, we are told that we are not to, “take advantage of a widow or orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry”. In Deuteronomy, we read that God “defends the cause of the fatherless…. giving him food and clothing”. Deuteronomy 24, there is a reminder to God’s people “not It is poignantly clear that God expects His people to care for children in need! This is a clear mandate!

In both roles above, I saw the difference it made in the lives of the children/mentees and the parents/mentors. So how should you respond after reading this article? If you feel a call to foster a child, pursue it! If you live in Jamaica contact the For The Child Foster Care Programme at Family Life Ministries (FLM). If you are in the Diaspora, still contact them and see how you can help. If you don’t feel called to fostering but still would like to help the ministry, please contact the Ministry at the details below. God wants us to help the fatherless and motherless in our society. Will you respond to this call? The need is great![1]

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)

By Debbie Clue Writer who currently resides in Canada.

1. If you are interested in Fostering a Child or supporting the For The Child Foster Care Program, you can contact the Director Mrs. Holly McFarlane at (876) 816-0889