For our special Advent episode of Everyday Fostering, our HFG foster parent, Li Ping, shares how God used a respite care to bless her family and teach them the deeper meaning of advent and hospitality. Already with 3 active boys of their own and 1 foster child, they amazingly agreed to take in 2 other siblings for a few weeks! Blessed Christmas ! EVERYDAY FOSTERING - A Special Advent – Rediscovering God’s Heart for Hospitality In Nov, there was an urgent call out in our HFG group for help to care for John and Elizabeth, a pair of siblings aged 8 and 7 respectively, for a few weeks. Many families had already taken in other children and couldn’t help. I must say I initially hesitated offering our home. December was already hectic and noisy enough with four rambunctious boys (aged 7-16), including our own foster son. I was also looking to a bit of a breather after a busy semester in school. Yet, the thought of two precious children needing to spend their Christmas in an institution (i.e....

Respite carers are an important part in our fostering system. We thank God for these wonderful angels who come in to help when foster parents need help for a few hours or days! Here is our 3rd installment of Everyday Fostering from the eyes of our HFG respite carer,  Lee Hwa , who has been such a blessing to foster parents and children! We do pray for more great respite carers like Lee Hwa! < Everyday fostering : Respite Wonders > ""Auntie Lee Hwa, I will be a good boy!” This was one of the sentences little Chris said to me when I first helped  Vivienne Ng  for respite care. Chris was Vivienne’s foster child and was a very playful 4yo boy with ADHD. His behaviours had led to him being “kicked out” of a few childcare centres for some serious mischief. But you see, Chris was a broken child… he was deeply traumatised by his removal from his mother whom he loves deeply. When the day came for me to take him out, I gave him my attention, we played & talked about anyth...

  23 Nov 2018 - First ever CBD fostering intro lunch in collaboration with Epworth Community Services for Foster Care Week! Joseph Gan, our HFG foster parent is also a co-founder and president of a cyber-security startup. We are excited to have a foster father sharing as they play such an important role. We have been amazed by the transformation of their foster child, Jason (not his real name)! Foster parents come from all walks of life and Joseph's sharing also shows how busy professionals can also step up to foster ! Joseph and Li Ping, his wife, started fostering 3 years ago. They have seen personally what research also showed - that children really do grow better in foster families than children’s homes ! Fostering allows vulnerable children to grow in many ways through having closer and more secure relationships in family settings . They saw Jason bloom over time. Jason came as very fearful 9yo boy. They patiently took a step by step approach in caring for him with realist...

On 17 Nov 2018, Alan & Eliz shared about their journey fostering a 6 month old baby who is now an energetic 2 yr 8 mth old. What made this placement special was that it made this couple both first-time foster parents and first-time parents as well, since they had no children of their own. Not only did they have to cope with caring for a baby for the first time, they also had to manage the medical issues that came with this child being a premature baby. Nonetheless, the couple shared that the first time they met their foster child, it felt right that they should care for this child. He was warmly welcomed by their extended family, including Elizabeth’s mother. In God’s perfect timing and provision, her mother had just asked Elizabeth for a new babysitting job, totally unaware that the couple has just decided to start fostering . Her mother now cares for the child when Elizabeth is at work. Despite the love they have for the child, Elizabeth and Alan are prepared for the possible eve...

  “When you have 3 foster girls, they will naturally fight with each other from time to time for all sorts of things. We always try to teach them to value people over things. In order to help them feel safe, we assure them there is enough of everything and there is no reason to fight with each other for things that God has blessed us with. Some nights back, we had one of these “tiffs”. Our 5 years old foster child, Dora saw her foster sister, Gina, use a fork she thought was hers. You could see the “temperature” shooting up as she burst out at Gina in a fit! Over time, we have that when such things happen, our calmness will also help her to regulate her emotions. We told her calmly, just like we did the many other times such a thing happened, “Dora, you shouldn’t have yelled at your foster sister over this fork. There are many other forks... “ Her 5 years old face scowled in defiance. When TV time came, Gina happily watched her favourite shows while Dora has to lose her privilege ...

A few days ago, HFG foster family Audrie Siew and her daughter, Gabrielle, did a mother and daughter sharing about fostering to teenagers at an event by Focus on the Family Singapore ! Although the event was a secular one, it reminded Audrie of God’s goodness to her family. Below is Audrie’s reflection, specially prepared for HFG : “It was our first mother-daughter-father(as photographer) sharing on fostering. It's heartening to see so many more teens aware of fostering as compared to the past. I was struck also by how fostering has grown our family. Y es the the vulnerable kids are helped when we foster but God also blesses the givers . As a Christian family, we always prayed for my own children to know God and walk closely with Him. My heart almost burst to see my daughter talk about how she struggled and grew and then reached her own conclusions about why we should continue to foster. I could just see how God has worked in my daughter’s heart. Fostering has helped our family t...

30 October 2018 - Incredible turnout of 500 people from 80 churches for “Our Father’s Heart for the Homeless” symposium at St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore! God is certainly calling out His people for this important ministry!! So blessed for Vivienne Ng to have the opportunity share about Fostering & HFG-SG, alongside folks from The Last Resort, Homeless Hearts of Singapore, The Salvation Army Singapore, ACS Oldham Hall and Elijah 7000! This is what Vivienne Ng feels God is leading Christians in Singapore to do in terms of radical hospitality and fostering .

God reveals His heart through the little things in fostering. Some of you may remember that HFG foster parent,  Audrie Siew  shared in one of our Intro teas before. Here is another snippet from her home with little Ellie! < Everyday Fostering> Sharing from HFG foster parents *Title : "Auntie, I Won't Buy Toys!"* My 9yo foster child, Ellie has a dream - She wants to be a nurse when she grows up! Last week, I gave her some stickers (we have a reward system to encourage her to study... A tough one for most foster kids) for a great achievement in her spelling test. She stuck them triumphantly on the book. In our reward system, she can "exchange" one page of stickers for a present costing about $10. I asked her, "You have worked hard and got a few pages of stickers already! What would you like to get?" She thought for a while and said, "Auntie, I know!!! I won't buy toys! I will buy p4 assessment books for next year!" I was taken aback a...

  Fostering Tea Session on 29 Sept 2018 HFG foster parent, Hope, shared how she was convicted by James 1:27 . She had been helping to run a monthly children’s programme for orphans. She and her husband David began to pray for God's leading for something they would do together. They attended a Focus on the Family Singapore screening of the Dropbox and talk on fostering. This time David felt a strong conviction and they began to explore the possibility of fostering. They understood that they needed to talk to their whole household because this must be a family decision, a commitment needing everyone’s buy-in . When they began, Hope was homeschooling both of her two daughters, now 13 and 10. David travels 50% of the time which would mean Hope would be the primary caregiver. She also had her longtime helper attend fostering training, which also helped them all understand trauma better and how it affects these children in various ways . There were challenges as they took on their firs...

9 September 2018 - Vi sharing about fostering at The Salvation Army Singapore , MSF’s newest Fostering Agency!! She quoted the urgent entreaty by their founder, William Booth: “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight While little children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’lll fight While there is a drunkard left, While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, While there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!” & “ God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible ." This was followed by Marcus Moo’s sermon on Joseph who was asked by God to “foster” Jesus (Matt 1:19-25). Joseph was given authority from God, he showed tenacity, he recognized Jesus’ destiny and he did his duty . Likewise, we are also given a Divine Care and Protection Order by God to nurture the destinies of children who need care, and we...