HFG foster parents, Mark Lim and Sue Lim held a special training session for HFG foster parents last Saturday in Agape Baptist Church . Mark and Sue are trainers for special needs and have a heart for children with special needs. It was such a blessing! Joyce Too Yip and her husband, Teh Hsin Too are foster parents who attended and were greatly blessed. You can read Joyce's account below: <We can see her pain now!> My husband and I have been struggling with parenting one of our foster child who was diagnosed with Global Development Delay. Although she is 13, she is unable to do basic things confidently such as daily brushing of her teeth, getting the correct change when buying food, reading time and distinguishing between AM and PM. She also has trouble managing her emotions. Her occasional outbursts which involve crying, screaming and shouting on top of her lungs at home, in school or at public places has demoralised her and affected her ability to make friends. Fostering...

Joint HFG Intro tea with The Salvation Army Singapore on 21 Sept 2019. The following is a summary of their sharing. Kian Seng and Carol’s hearts were moved a few times until they had no doubt fostering is God’s will for them. Carol is a homemaker and Kian Seng works as a teacher. Kian Seng’s first encounter with a foster child was with a 17 year old student in their school. They later met a sister from China and were touched and encouraged that she was fostering children in Singapore. It struck them that she was a foreigner but still willing to take care of children in need outside of their country. But when a foster parent from church asked them if they were interested to foster and at that time the answer was still a clear cut NO as they had 3 young children! God had other plans for them! A 6 year old boy, Terry, came to church with his grandmother. He had behaviour issues and would roll on the floor during church services! Terry's mother had abandoned him. At K2, he is unable t...

Ever wondered how foster parents make sense of their foster children reunifying? Here is another little snippet by our HFG foster parent, Audrie Siew. (From HFG FB post on 8 Sept 2019) EVERYDAY FOSTERING - Paper Hearts We were driving. My foster child, "Ellie" (not her real name) suddenly passed me this paper heart. I asked her why... And she said, "Because I love you." I was touched. I know she did it because she was grateful... I was trying to help her with sthg in school on my phone. She was very upset due to some vicious "playground politics" (Parents, pl teach children to be kind and inclusive!! It does hurt kids!) Ellie is in the process of reunifying now and she is starting to stay with her parents more. I rejoice that she can finally go home to her parents that she loves so much. She stays with my family for 5 days a week now and we still have much to do to help her be successful in her reunification. We process with her on what habits she has lear...

This morning, hundreds of children did not wake up in their own beds within a family setting in Singapore. There are currently 1166 children in care, of which 535 are in foster homes. The remaining 631 are still in residential care. (Statistics from MSF website as of December 2018.) Choa-Tan Ai Cheng and Joyce Too Yip were invited by Ai Lin Lim to speak to her students from the Raffles Community Leadership and Citizenry Program in August. Ai Cheng shared about the work and need of child protection and foster care in Singapore. She explained how having a primary care giver for every child in a home setting is fundamental to the healthy growth of every child. Joyce shared examples how Dora (not her real name) a very sick child and assumed to be developmentally affected, has grown to the bubbly and cheerful preschooler she is today. She also highlighted how her special needs foster child could learn to identify and differentiate her own emotions and feel safe in a home environment. The...