While vacationing with friends in KL, Vivienne Ng was invited to share on "Biblical Hospitality & Fostering" at her good friend (ex-flatmate)'s cell group from Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC). About 30 adults & kids attended both in-person & online. Vivienne shared about her family's journey to fostering, & her initial struggle to obey this clear biblical mandate. Unlike other ministries which are usually carried out outside before retreating into the safe castle of our homes, biblical hospitality involves bringing ministry right into one's home & family. While her parents were originally unsupportive of her fostering, they hv since embraced her foster kids, who call them grandma and grandpa (when he was alive). She challenged cell group members to pray, to move out of their comfort zones and to open their hearts and homes to those in need, even if it can be inconvenient. More than talking about our faith, bible hospitality models to

This Sat morning, we are thankful for Jason and Irene, foster parents from the HFG community, share their fostering journey at our joint fostering intro session with Epworth Foster Care . Both of them literally glowed with joy as they shared about their fostering journey! Definitely not expecting this… if you know that they are parents/foster parents to 5 biological/foster children, including a few months old foster child. Here’s a few takeaways from their sharing. - Fostering has bonded their family closer together, including their extended family. Jason shared that his marriage is also stronger now, because of better communication with his wife and how fostering and his faith have changed his attitude/heart. Fostering requires team work! Irene shared that she has also come to know herself much better now, and that she needed help first in order to help others. - Fostering has blessed each of their biological child (e.g., extending grace to others) as well as their relatio

Blessed to hear Jam Buen share again with us about what God is doing tru Generations-Home in the Philippines. They are working to end the orphan crisis there through fostering and adoption, and supporting preg moms in crisis. There are 1.8 mil orphans in the Philippines, over 6 mil kids in out of home care or on the streets - this is as big as the population in SG!!! In 5 years, Generations Home has supported 74 moms, and thru these moms helped 198 children. One of only 4 adoption agencies in the whole country, they are now journeying with 86 families adopting tru them. If u wanna support their work, pl check the link https://www.generationshome.org/singapore

Being foster parents and journeying with fellow foster parents in the past 10 years, we are very thankful for UBS Optimus Foundation’s support in this new program - Befrienders for Families (BFF) - co-developed by both HFG-SG and The Salvation Army Singapore (TSA)! Supporting the natural families of the foster children is also important in the entire care continuum. Last Friday, the BFF program was officially launched at TSA’s Red Shield Appeal Event 2023. Here’s a few photos taken at the event. We were too busy meeting new and old friends, and eating, so here’s only 3 photos!

  We love the HFG community, being there for one another You are not alone in your fostering journey. “Dear friends, I wanted to say thank you here for all the help, support and prayers I received when I reached out with this request (as well as subsequent ones)… The past couple of months have been quite difficult with us as we navigated many issues and this group has been a blessing. … Thank you again for everyone's generosity and help. I am sure I will be reaching out again in the future with more questions! “ Foster Parent, Ling (Permission obtained to share this message sent to the community earlier this month)

We are thankful to meet a few of our partners in the past few weeks. It is always encouraging to meet like-minded people who are passionate about supporting vulnerable children and youth. The work is challenging, but it doesn’t stop them - their love, compassion, wisdom and perseverance continue to make a difference to the lives of these children, youth and even their families. Their work is often behind the scenes, coordinating between various stakeholders, counselling and providing practical care and support, preparing and executing outreach events to advocate and recruit more foster parents/volunteers, being the voice for the vulnerable… the list continues. Each case, each individual is unique, never to assume the same. So let’s not forget to express our gratitude and extend encouragement to them!

Heartfelt sharing and prayer by Jolene Ng, foster mother from the HFG community. “I decided to sketch this piece because my heart is broken. My heart is grieved and it hurts.  Read in the Straits Times yesterday of 2 cases of child abuse: 1 girl aged 5 and another aged 11 both abused to DEATH in their homes in Singapore. Children are vulnerable. They are weak, they are defenseless, they are trusting, they need to be protected. Children are given to us to LOVE.  Yet these children have been abused by their loved ones for months… to their DEATHS!!!  These children shouldn’t have had to suffer, to fear in their own homes.  I cry out to God for the injustice, for the sin that has been committed against them! I pray to God to use me, to use even me, to help, to give respite, to create awareness, in whatever small ways, use me and all that I am. Amen.”

  We collaborated with our partner Good Pathways to organise our first event together - Let’s Talk Adoption - a workshop about post-adoption journey. After the workshop, we were also blessed to participate in their 10th anniversary celebration! Our ED, Kuan Ying, introduced HFG and shared her journey with adoptive parents, clearly expressing her deep gratitude and love for these parents. We were excited to meet new friends who learnt about our work and this workshop via FB, and “old” friends who have become dear sojourners over the years. Participants to the event comprised adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents and supporters of adoption, including professionals from the social sector. Both Good Pathways’ founder Elaine (adoptive parent) and adoptee Ashley shared unique perspectives of the adoption journey from their personal experiences as well as from their interactions with other adoptive parents/adoptee. Their sharing included the adoptive identity, the search and discove

We are happy to partner Gracehaven Fostering ( The Salvation Army Singapore (TSA)) for our intro tea this morning! So blessed that we could have City Harvest Church host this round at Suntec City! Our very own ED, Kuan Ying, introduced HFG and also inspired with her own story of how she wanted to ensure her foster son did not feel that she would abandon him. We were so blessed that @Audrie Siew, one of our HFG Core Leaders as well as the Executive Director of Children and Youth Group in The Salvation Army, and her husband, Chune Keat could share about their journey in fostering. She shared that foster parents enter the lives of children at their darkest seasons when healing is most needed. Liliac, one of her foster girls, said that she told her there was no need to study for PSLE as she did not see any hope or future. She shared how just providing a safe and caring environment really can give hope and rebuild lives! Ellie, one of her foster girls, came to them unable to read or spe

Post Movie Screening Reflection by HFG foster parent and volunteer Edmen Leong who reflected on how he and his family learnt and overcame challenges and made an impact to foster children! “Home For Good hosted a private movie screening between the 11th to 13th of May at Eaglewings Cinematics . They screened the movie “Lost Love” which is about how a married couple ventured into fostering and eventually took on several children throughout the course of their lives. Across the 3 days, a total of 172 guests attended the movie screening. My wife Laa Leong and I ( Edmen Leong ) are glad that we were part of the movie screening as volunteers. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie specifically because we were able to relate to several of the experiences that were represented in the movie. One experience we could relate to was a scene portraying a conversation between the foster mum and the school principal after a fight happened between the foster child and a schoolmate. Gist of the scene was how