The American Foster Care Crisis The system isn’t working, so the Church must By ERIC PORTER
96
Winter 2022
I
’ll never forget the night I had to make a phone call to the child abuse hotline after discovering a young girl in my church had suffered physical abuse at the hands of her father. My heart sank with each question the operator asked. “Are there drugs involved? Are there weapons in the house? Do you feel she is in imminent danger?” I began to weep as I shared what I knew. The more I processed the situation, the more indignant I became. I was angry at the father, but as a pastor, I was also angry that I didn’t know how to help this girl. I felt powerless. All I was trained to do was to make the phone call.
