by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY, KAN. — There are more than 400,000 children in the foster care system in the United States and nearly 7,500 of them right here in Kansas.
Those statistics concern Kathy White, hired this past spring to be the archdiocese’s part-time foster ministry and pro-life coordinator.
Every one of those children, White said, have “a heart, a soul and a name, and are deserving of a home.”
And she’s determined to help them thrive. She seems to be off to a running start.
Already she’s visited with parish liaisons, reached out to all of the deaneries to discuss how to start ministries, sat with the archbishop on a podcast of “The Shepherd’s Voice,” enrolled in various kinds of training to learn more about foster care and its complexities, reached out to area government and service agencies and started researching best practices from already established church-based ministries, whether Catholic or not.
Three weeks into her new job, in fact, she coordinated a Foster Care Awareness night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, hosting 58 people from previously identified foster families from across the archdiocese.
She’s also encouraging Catholics to view “Sound of Hope: The Possum Trot Story,” a film released July 4 by Angel Studios and endorsed by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, hoping that moviegoers will be inspired to get involved in foster care in some way, no matter how big or small.
The movie tells the true story of a single church in Possum Trot, Texas, that took in 77 foster care kids — kids that no one else was willing to take a chance on — until 21 families stepped up and supported one another, providing meals, prayer and, above all, love.
“When you have faith — when you have community wrapping around in support for you — is when these families in this area of Possum Trot, Texas, could be successful,” White said. “I do believe watching the film will inspire people to think, ‘Where can I fit in this space?’”
In 2020, when the archdiocese first launched foster care ministry, Debra Niesen, the archdiocesan Respect Life consultant, said between 12 to 15 parishes jumped on board and got involved in the archdiocese’s Thrive Foster Ministry, a name attributed to the archbishop.
“To be truly pro-life, we must also make sure that every child has an environment where he or she can thrive,” the archbishop has often said.
The goals are simple.
Both Niesen and White want to raise awareness about the need for foster families, but also ways archdiocesan Catholics can support foster families.
“Maybe not everyone can take in a family, but everyone can do something,” White said.
One way, she explained, is to provide wraparound support for foster families, something that can take many different forms — from providing a meal to a foster family, praying for a foster family during court-directed appointments or taking respite training to provide babysitting for a foster care child when the foster parents have to go to an appointment.
A parish that White said is already providing a lot of wraparound support is St. Joseph in Shawnee.
The parish launched its ministry several years ago.
Today, according to Carri Person, who serves as the overall coordinator, it consists of four main areas: a care portal, meal trains, a care community and events.
Calling the care portal the “backbone of the ministry,” Person said it exists to deliver goods or services.
One of the biggest needs, Person noted, is beds.
In June, through its delivery team, the care portal distributed 13 beds to foster families. And that was just one month!
Like White, Person said there are many ways people can support foster families, who often experience burnout due to the complicated circumstances in which they find themselves.
“We want the people who are willing [to serve as foster families] to do it as long as possible and not burn out,” she said. Even just starting a meal train for one foster family can help.
Father Mark Ostrowski agrees.
As an associate pastor, he provides pastoral leadership for the ministry and said he’s witnessed firsthand the heroic love of the foster families and ministering to them in ways, big and small.
“They have no interest in accolades. They have no interest in attention, really. It’s just so beautiful,” he said.
And it’s absolutely “essential work,” he said.
“If we’re pro-life, then this is something we should be doing — period,” he added.
To learn more about the archdiocese’s Thrive Foster Ministry and how to get involved, contact Kathy White by email at: kwhite@archkck.org or visit the website at: archkck.org/foster.
