Sharing Jesus in “Jerusalem”: How Two Mothers are Supporting Hurting Children

Being foster moms active in their churches and foster care community, both Joy and Alex understand a child’s need for loving homes, an understanding shaped by their own childhoods in foster care. 

“I grew up in foster care, and I was adopted,” Joy shared. “I’ve seen the Lord do so much work and healing, and I know there’s such a need for foster families.” 

Alex’s experience in foster care not only shaped how she cares for families and children now but also how she viewed her identity for several years.

“I had a really traumatic background, and that was back in a day when trauma wasn’t treated like trauma is now. A lot of abuse happened, and I found my identity in that,” Alex explained. 

But through classes at a Christian college, Alex’s identity and her view of God began to shift.

“I was forced to actually read the Bible myself, and at that point I saw that God’s not the problem. People are. Sin is,” she said. 

“He is a good God, and a good Father. Everyone in this whole world will let you down because it’s a broken world, and we’re all sinners. But He never will.” 

Years later, Alex and her husband decided they could be the hands and feet of Jesus in this broken world by becoming foster parents.

Joy, too, experienced heartache that led her to open her heart and home — but heartache of a different kind. For five years, she and her husband struggled through infertility until they had their miracle baby, a little girl.

“I was so thankful that we had our daughter and thought maybe we were only meant to have one,” Joy explained. “But the Lord started bringing up foster care to my husband and me.”

Joy and her husband connected with Erin Lairsey, Families 4 Families’ Community Connections in the Augusta/CSRA office location, and later opened their home. Their first placement became their forever family in April of 2025.

“They came to us from very severe neglect, and they were highly dysregulated,” she said. “It was pretty intense in the beginning when they came, but God was in the journey. It was all divine how everything fell into place.” 

Though Joy and Alex can’t foster every child who enters the Richmond County Courthouse, they can make a difference for each of them through this project.

“‘Why are we bringing these children into this sad place?’” Alex recalled the judge wondering. “The children are not in trouble, but they’re having a miserable time. It was really [the attorney’s and judge’s] desire to have a comforting space for these children.”

But to make this space more welcoming and kid-friendly, Alex and Joy needed funding. That’s where Joy’s church stepped up to help.

“We started putting together a donation list, and my church was able to put money toward buying things from the list,” Joy said.

Thanks to donations and other community partnerships, this project is changing once dull and unwelcoming spaces into warm rooms where children can feel comfortable despite the uncertainty of court hearings.

“Coming to the courthouse is so intimidating to a child. We just want to provide a glimpse of safety and peace for them, despite what they’re walking through,” Joy said.

Alex added, “The main goal of any project that we do is that it leads to Jesus. Anytime we build relationships, it’s to introduce the church into dark places where no one has hope. [Children] are scared and lost, but there’s Jesus.

“The Lord tells us to go out and spread the gospel in Judea and Samaria [further away places] but also in Jerusalem [near home]. We are put right here for a reason.” 

Thanks to Alex, Joy and the help they’ve received from other churches and organizations in the community, this project does more than encourage children in crisis. It also shows the world how people of faith can surround the foster care community. 

“We can change the narrative of Christ and of Christians. [You hear people say], ‘All they do is speak, but they don’t walk the walk.’ How true it is that some Christians say they’re followers of Christ, but they won’t help a child because it’s inconvenient or it’s uncomfortable,” Alex said. “But we’re not called to be comfortable.”

Alex and Joy hope to continue rallying other church members to do what they can when they can for children in foster care and foster families. 

“Not everyone is supposed to be a foster parent, but sometimes there are people who just don’t even think of it as an option,” Alex said. “We can be people who say, ‘If [opening your home] is what the Lord’s calling you to do, you need to do it. But also, if the Lord’s not calling you to do that, then come alongside and equip foster parents to be successful.’”