Join us this Lent as we pray for all those touched by foster care. Each week during Lent, we will pray for a different weekly intention as we ask for God’s blessing on foster and kinship families, biological parents, and children in care. Pray every day or once a week, meditate on a Bible passage, and try to complete the weekly challenge! May God bless your Lenten journey.
Visit Lent with Springs of Love for more Lenten ideas for fasting, service, and prayer.
“No matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.” ~ St. John Chrysostom
Week 1: For Children in Care
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ~ Luke 18:16
Week 1 Challenge: Start a box to collect items throughout Lent to take to a foster agency in your area. Items could be socks, toiletries, clothing, journals and coloring books, or gift cards. Fill the box on your own, with your family, or with a group. Be ready to deliver your items during Week 6. Tip: Some agencies have information on their websites about what kinds of items they need most, and may even have “wish lists” that you can use to shop for them online.
Father God, we pray for all children in foster care. We ask that you surround them with Your love and protection, that they may know that they are always, first and foremost, Your beloved children. We pray for a healthy reunification with their families where possible, and that they may be wholly embraced by their foster families until that time. We pray that all children in foster care may know a deep sense of belonging, not only within their foster families, but also with You. In Your name we pray. Amen.
Week 2: For Foster Families
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
Week 2 Challenge: Identify a foster, kinship, or at-risk family in your community. Find a way to support them through bringing a meal or helping around the house. If you can’t find a family to serve, call or visit a foster agency in your area and find out what kinds of help they need. Tip: Try contacting your parish office to ask about an at-risk family or foster family that you could bless with a delivered meal or gift card.
God, we ask that You bless all foster families. We thank You for their commitment to raising children in need. Please bless all foster parents with patience, understanding, and an enduring love for the children in their care. We ask that You would call more strong, faithful families to foster, and provide them the community they need to continue the work that they do. In Your name we pray. Amen.
Week 3: For At-risk Families
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ~ Matthew 11:28-30
Week 3 Challenge: Share a meal this week with your family or close friends, completely free of phones, television, or other outside distractions. During grace, include a prayer for families who do not have the time or ability to enjoy intentional, shared time together. If you already do this regularly, try to have at least 6 intentional, digital-free dinners this week!
Dear God, we pray this week for families that are struggling. We pray for parents who don’t know the best ways to love and care for their children; we recognize that many adults have never had the example of a stable and loving home. We pray for families that are having a hard time making ends meet; we recognize that some adults don’t have the resources to be the parents that they want to be. Shower Your loving presence on these families; help them in their parenting, and bring support into their lives. Help us to recognize these families in our midst and find ways to offer them encouragement and support. We pray this in Your Holy Name. Amen.
Week 4: For Kinship Families
(Kinship is a living arrangement where a relative or close acquaintance provides for the care and custody of a child due to serious family hardship. This can be an informal agreement between family members or at the direction of child protective services.)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ~ Colossians 3:12-14
Week 4 Challenge: This week, fast from a “little luxury” that you enjoy a few times a week – for example, eating out, watching television, drinking a favorite beverage, or shopping. Each time you think of wanting to do that activity during the week, say a little prayer for foster and kinship families.
All loving Father, we lift up kinship families to your care. Give them strength in moments of doubt. Give them courage in times of fear. Give them wisdom in seasons of uncertainty. Shower them with your grace as they navigate the waters of caring for children placed in their care. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Week 5: For Crisis Pregnancies & Birth Parents
For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ~ Psalm 139:13-14
Week 5 Challenge: Spend 30 minutes this week in adoration, on your own or with your spouse or family, praying for those touched by foster care. If you have considered fostering or adoption, use this time toward discerning if this is somewhere God is calling you.
Father God, we pray for all those who are unable to raise their biological children. We pray for each expectant mother who finds herself unable to parent; may You be with her throughout her pregnancy, reassuring her of the love her child will know from an adoptive or foster family and through an eternal relationship with You. Be with all parents whose children have entered into foster or kinship families; comfort them through the grief of time apart, and walk with them as they make strides toward reunification. In Your name we pray. Amen.
Week 6: For All Those Touched by Fostering
He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. ~ Ephesians 1:5
Father of the fatherless and protector of the widows is God in His holy place. God settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity. ~ Psalm 68:5-6
Week 6 Challenge: Finish up your collection box from Week 1, and deliver your items to a group that serves foster families in your area. If you found a family or agency to serve during Week 2, make Easter special for them by delivering cards, goodies, Easter baskets, or another donation. Consider this week making a monetary donation to a group that serves foster families or children in care.
Lord, we lift up to You all those who are touched by fostering. Bless the families that are working to support and nurture vulnerable children through fostering; bless those who are discerning a call to fostering, that they may know Your will and follow Your call; bless the parents who are working hard toward their goals of reunification, that they may heal from any past wounds and move forward stronger; bless all foster case workers with wisdom and endurance in their efforts to do what is best for each child; and above all, bless the children in foster families, that they may know Your everlasting love through the families that care for them and the unseen ways that You provide for them. Help us to see the ways that we can support all of these individuals and make a difference in their lives. In Your heavenly name we pray. Amen.
