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...

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...

It was a cozy joint-intro tea session yesterday morning with Boys’ Town Fostering Services. All who attended were encouraged! A beautiful and very natural and heartfelt sharing by foster parents Alan and Eliz, who have been on this fostering journey since 2016! Here’s a few parts of their sharing: “Eliz carrying foster child (FC) in her sling while singing in the choir! He was so calm that nobody knew he was at the choir” “FC was in the hospital for a few months since birth…he smiled for the first time when they brought him home” “FC is our teacher, he teaches us how to teach him” “Eliz always places herself in FC’s natural mother’s shoes, and that helped in their first meeting at the hospital, and just small little details e.g. getting Alan to bring FC to natural mum, that reduces any potential tension when a mother meets another mother.” “Allan shared a few times about their conviction of the importance of reintegration.” More details from the sharing will be released. Watch this spa...

  Below is a summary of the sharing by Amy at the Fostering Tea Session with  Boys' Town Fostering Services  on 24 September 2022. Amy and Victor Amy was given an opportunity to host foster parents at one of the events organized by her workplace. It was truly a memorable and eye-opening experience for her to hear the heartwarming stories of the foster parents as they shared with Amy and one another their fostering journeys. One of the foster parents commented that “If there is a room in your heart to foster, you will create space in your house to foster.” “It was very touching to see a foster parent taking care of a foster child with severe disabilities, feeding and attending to the child.” Amy shared. This is not the first occasion that Amy was exposed to the world of fostering. At work, Amy had a prayer group with colleagues who are also foster parents. This was the push she needed to talk about fostering a child with her husband, Victor. Victor had initial apprehension...

  Foster parents Ping Loong and Donna shared their fostering journey at the Fostering Tea Session organized by  Boys' Town Fostering Services  and  Home For Good - SG  on 9 July 2022. HOW IT BEGAN... Donna has always wanted to foster. However she always imagined it would happen after they had children of their own. In 2019, Donna experienced a serious heart attack. She recalled different aspects of her life flashed through her mind as she was wheeled into the operating theatre. “ I might be seeing God soon. Can I say goodbye and leave in peace? My marriage... parents... have I done enough? ” In the last few moments of consciousness, Donna realised that she had two regrets – not prioritising God and spending more time with Him, and not giving back to the community. Thankfully Donna recovered and the near-death experience prompted her to look for opportunities to give back. However, she soon realised it was hard to find ways to help due to the restrictive safe dis...

From our intro sharing session on 16 April 2022 with Boys' Town Fostering Services . Doris has been fostering for 3+ years (since 2018). She has cared for 2 foster children and provided respite care for 2 children. Doris first had a calling to help vulnerable children in 2013 when she came across information about fostering on her Church’s magazine. She was interested to find out more and attended an info-sharing session organised by MSF.. After the session, she shared the information with her husband but he expressed his concern about the timing as their children were still young. Nevertheless, fostering continued to remain at the back of Doris’s mind. In 2018, Doris felt a very strong stirring in her heart. She experienced several signs from God that that she was going to work with children. Doris felt that God was telling her that she was ready to foster and was very convicted. Doris broached the topic with her husband and was pleasantly surprised that he agreed and attended the...

From a joint tea session organized by HFG and Boys' Town Fostering Services  on  13th November 2021 Annie came from Hong Kong and she used to volunteer with children with autism in dormitories back in Hong Kong. She spent six hours to play with these children and had to leave after her volunteering work ended. This left her a desire to do more in-depth work as she realized the impact she had on them was limited as she had to leave shortly after the children became familiar with her and started to bond with her. When she was based in Singapore, she felt that God gave her a desire to help children. God spoke to her in a loud voice one morning “there is a girl that I want you to take care”. Annie knew intuitively that God was asking her to care for a foster child. She shared the idea with her husband and her husband voiced his concerns of the foster child not getting along well with their own child. Annie prayed to God to soften her husband’s heart. A few months later, she broach...

Sharing at the Sept 2021 intro tea with Boys' Town Fostering Services . Kuan Ying and Colin likened their journey to “The Unexpected Journey” of The Hobbit! AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Colin and Kuan Ying are ex-civil servants. They have two adult children. Kuan Ying once attended an MSF Volunteer Event. She was very moved to see a teenager in a wheelchair on stage thanking his foster parents wholeheartedly for looking after him since he was a little child. That helped her see the immense impact of fostering on vulnerable children and seeded a desire in her to foster children with special needs. Amazingly, her children were supportive about it. Colin, her husband, without hesitation readily agreed. As part of MSF’s application process to become foster parents, they had to go through a gruelling interview with the assessors. The whole process was completed within 3 months. Training followed soon after to equip them for fostering children. Their first placement was supposed to have been a...

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...