Knowing you’re not alone can make a world of difference.
“You really do need an ally [as a foster parent],” explained Katie Campbell.
Katie and her husband Mike started fostering in 2018 and completed their initial training with Gwinnett County. Not long after the Campbells heard about Families 4 Families.
When they connected with Families 4 Families, they found more than just an agency, said the couple, they found an advocate.
“Families 4 Families was much more consistent with their caseworkers,” added Katie, “and their caseworkers were very Christian-centered. They would ask, ‘Can we pray with you?’ They’d provide date nights or diapers or even a meal when they knew a big date was coming up that would be harder for our family. … They could relate to what was happening with us, and you knew they really cared.”
Mike agreed.
“They anticipated a lot of our needs and, even at our low points, they tried to find ways to connect us with someone who had a similar situation or other families who had a similar situation,” he said.
The Campbells have one biological daughter, Abby. They fostered and adopted two more children, too: their daughter and son, Lily and Price.
Fostering isn’t something the couple stumbled into, though. It had been on Katie’s heart for years.
“I had thought about it even as far back as college,” she said. “We got pregnant with our first, and we just weren’t able to get pregnant again. It felt very natural to say, ‘Okay, we have this other option.’”
Even without knowing exactly what to expect, Mike felt positive about pursuing foster care.
“In the Bible, it says over and over that our calling is to care for widows and orphans,” he explained. “We weren’t always exactly sure how that would play out. But we had many conversations. We have room, and we decided to go down this road together.”
But that road can include plenty of twists and turns. One example? Their fostering journey with their now adopted son, Price.
“Our son Price started our fostering process. He was only three months old when he came to us, and we had him for nearly four years. And then, an uncle came into the picture and was willing to adopt him,” explained Katie. “After raising Price for that long and then potentially losing him? All we had at that moment was faith.”
At the very last minute, the adoption with Price’s uncle fell through. A few months later, the Campbells officially adopted Price.
“The faith that it takes to walk through this is something that you’ll always carry with you. God never lets you down,” said Katie. “Even if Price had gone with his uncle, we trusted that God would be faithful. No matter where Price is, God will always be there with him.”
Fostering is a learning process. The Campbells’ experience grew them as individuals, a couple and ultimately as a family.
“We had to go through the [fostering] process with open hands. That wasn’t easy at first,” he said. “For me, releasing control was a challenge and a learning experience. We had to let God and other people direct us.”
The Campbells say they couldn’t have walked through fostering without the encouragement of Families 4 Families caseworkers or CEO & Founder Wayne Naugle.
“When you have an advocate working for you, they know the strings to pull and who to talk with,” said Mike. “Sometimes the right phone call with the right person and the right words makes a world of difference.”
“You do need support,” agreed Katie. “It’s not something I would recommend that anyone do by themselves or without somebody who has gone before. That’s really big.”
Something else that’s helped? The date nights, meals and more powered by Families 4 Families donors.
“That extra date night, the extra meal — it makes all the biggest difference in the world. It’s an extra nudge when you’re not sure you can take one more step,” said Mike. “For our family, [that extra support has] made a huge difference.”
For other families who want to help but aren’t ready to take the leap into fostering, donations are a great way to be connected to foster care and support active foster families.