http://www.frontlinefamilies.net/

Lee - FLFA, P. O. Box 720787, Byram, MS (2026)

05/26/2026

Due too Memorial Day weekend we decided to postpone the blog series regarding the “Olivia Y. lawsuit” and why the Supreme Court doesn’t need to overturn this ruling. This is in regard to Mississippi foster care system and the lack of accountability.

🔎 “Qualified on Paper… But Who’s Staying?”

📖 Part 6 of 10: Mississippi Created Worker Qualification Standards. But Qualifications Don’t Mean Much If Experienced Workers Keep Walking Out the Door.

When the Olivia Y. lawsuit was filed against the State of Mississippi, one of the most dangerous allegations wasn’t just that workers had too many cases. It was that children were being entrusted to a system where workers often lacked the time, support, training, or in some cases, the experience to safely manage the complexity of foster care.

Because in child welfare, experience matters.

Experience is what helps a worker recognize when:

🧸 a foster parent is burning out
🧒 a teenager’s behavior is really trauma
🚨 an abuse allegation doesn’t add up
⚠️ a “minor concern” is actually a child in danger
🏠 a placement disruption is days away
💔 or a family that looks stable on paper is quietly unraveling

That kind of judgment doesn’t come from a handbook. It comes from time. And when the lawsuit was filed, it alleged a system so overwhelmed that children were being exposed to: “an unreasonable risk of serious harm, abuse, neglect, and death.”

One of the court’s solutions was straightforward: If Mississippi couldn’t protect children with inconsistent staffing, then the state needed qualified professionals.

📋 Mississippi Was Ordered to Formalize Worker Qualifications 🗒️

Under Olivia Y., Mississippi agreed to establish formal qualification standards for:

✔️ caseworkers
✔️ supervisors
✔️ contractors
✔️ agency leadership

The goal was simple, Children in state custody should not be protected by whoever happens to be available. They should be protected by trained professionals. And on paper Mississippi did that. But qualifications on paper don’t solve one of child welfare’s hardest realities:

❓What happens when experienced workers leave? Retention becomes a problem!

📊 Mississippi’s Own Reports Say Retention Is Still a Challenge📊

Even today, Mississippi’s own 2025–2029 Child & Family Services Plan identifies:” Recruitment and retention” as an active statewide workforce priority.

That means even after:

🏛️ a new agency
⚖️ federal oversight
📚 new training systems
📋 formal qualifications
🛠️ years of staffing reform

keeping workers is a challenge.

🚪 Qualifications Don’t Walk Out the Door. People Do. 🚪

This is where qualification standards and child safety begin to diverge. Because a qualified position is not the same as an experienced worker. Every time an experienced caseworker leaves, Mississippi loses that wisdom.

And every time that happens, a child often starts over.

👤 With a new worker.
👥 A new supervisor.
💔 A new relationship.
📖 A new learning curve.

And in child welfare, that learning curve can come with consequences.

⚠️ Why This Matters If Olivia Y. Ends ⚠️

Today, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says Mississippi is ready to operate without federal oversight.

But if the public cannot see:

📌 how many workers are leaving
📌 how many supervisors are being replaced
📌 how much experience is walking out the door
📌 whether frontline workers are staying long enough to become experts

then how does anyone verify Mississippi’s workforce is truly stable? This lawsuit happened because they alleged there weren’t enough prepared, supported, experienced adults available when children needed them most.

And nearly 20 years later, the federal court was still ordering Mississippi to prove workers were staying. That’s an accountability issue.

And accountability is exactly why Olivia Y. existed in the first place.

⏭️ Coming Next:

📖 Part 7 — “113 Promises. 76 Missed.”

Mississippi agreed to 113 measurable child safety benchmarks. Three years later, court monitors found the state had met only 37.

🔗 Sources:

Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse Olivia Y. Archive
https://clearinghouse.net/case/10942/
Original Olivia Y. Federal Complaint PDF
https://clearinghouse.net/doc/11041/
Second Modified Settlement Agreement PDF
https://clearinghouse.net/doc/134799/
2021 Olivia Y. Rebuilding Order PDF
https://clearinghouse.net/doc/176265/
Mississippi 2025–2029 Child & Family Services Plan PDF
https://www.mdhs.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CFSP-2025-2029.pdf

05/21/2026

“A New Agency… Same Old Problems?”

Part 5 of 10: Mississippi Built a New Child Welfare Agency. Three Years Later, Court Monitors Said the State Was Still Missing Most of Its Targets.

When the state of Mississippi was sued in Olivia Y. lawsuit, they weren’t suing one social worker. They weren’t suing one county office. And they weren’t suing one bad placement. They were suing an entire system.

At the time, Mississippi foster care operated under the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS), an agency children alleged had become so overloaded, understaffed, and poorly supervised that children in state custody were being exposed to:

“an unreasonable risk of serious harm, abuse, neglect, and death.”

So when Mississippi announced in 2016 that foster care would be removed from DHS and placed under a brand-new agency, it sounded like a turning point.

The state created the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS), an independent agency dedicated solely to child welfare. It looked like Mississippi had finally taken Olivia Y. seriously, But then came the numbers.

By 2019, three years after MDCPS was created, the numbers show whats really going on. Out of the 113 measures in the lawsuit only 37 had been met.

That’s: 32.7% compliance
Meaning: 76 required benchmarks were still being missed.

What Were Those 76 Missed Benchmarks?

* worker caseload compliance,
* timely face-to-face visits,
* placement stability,
* foster home availability,
* healthcare compliance,
* permanency planning,
* abuse investigations,
* sibling placements,
* documentation accuracy,
* supervisory oversight.

These were the very areas children said were failing when Olivia Y. began. And years after Mississippi created MDCPS many of those same issues were still under court correction.

If the New Agency Was Working, Why Didn’t the Court End the Lawsuit? Because instead of dismissing Olivia Y the federal court did the opposite. In 2021, it ordered a:

Rebuilding Period, Mississippi was ordered to go back and rebuild performance in key areas including:

* staffing,
* foster home recruitment,
* healthcare,
* abuse investigations,
* permanency,
* data accuracy.

That means five years after MDCPS was created, the court still wasn’t ready to let Mississippi operate without oversight. And accountability is exactly why Olivia Y. existed in the first place.

Coming Next:

Part 6 — “Qualified on Paper… But Who’s Staying?”

Sources for Part 5

Original Lawsuit Records
* Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse – Olivia Y. Case Archive
* A Better Childhood – Mississippi / Olivia Y. Overview
Federal Settlement Documents
* Second Modified Mississippi Settlement Agreement (PDF)
* 2nd Modified Settlement Agreement Archive Page
Federal Rebuilding Order
* 2021 Joint Stipulated Order for Rebuilding Period (PDF)
Compliance / Agency Records
* Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services Strategic Plan (referencing Olivia Y. compliance measures)
* Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services Overview
Reporting and Background
* Mississippi Today – Foster Care System Oversight Reporting
* Mississippi Free Press – Olivia Y. Settlement Coverage

05/20/2026

🚨 DISCLAIMER PARTS 3 & 4 ARE COMBINED 🚨

For time’s sake, we are combining Part 3 and Part 4 of our Olivia Y. series into one post!

🏡 “A License Doesn’t Mean a Bed.” 🏡

When the Olivia Y. lawsuit was filed against the State of Mississippi, one of the most dangerous failures was not just what happened inside foster homes. It was what happened when there were not enough homes to begin with.

Children alleged they were being placed in:

📌 Emergency shelters
📌 Institutions
📌 Temporary placements
📌 Homes far from siblings
📌 Homes far from schools

Just because the foster care system runs out of safe homes, children do not stop coming. The system simply starts making harder choices. And according to the lawsuit, those choices sometimes came at the expense of their safety. So lets look at this for a moment:

⚖️ THE COURT ORDERED MISSISSIPPI TO FIX THE FOSTER HOME SHORTAGE ⚖️

As part of federal Olivia Y. reforms, Mississippi was ordered to dramatically increase foster home capacity. By 2021, Mississippi was ordered to recruit:

📊 486 additional foster homes which is important to note that this was a federal catch-up number not a fix all number. This number was large enough to suggest placement shortages were still serious nearly two decades into oversight.

Later federal reviews found Mississippi had licensed:

📈 477 of those 486 homes (98.1% of target).

That sounds like success right? Maybe on paper! But Mississippi’s own records tell a more complicated story.

❓ IF FOSTER HOMES ARE FIXED… WHY DOES MISSISSIPPI STILL REPORT SHORTAGES? ❓

In the 2026 Mississippi legislation session a NEW bill was passed called “A Home for Every Child” Initiative. Mississippi joined the Trump Administration pilot program in March 2026. To combat the shortage of foster parents? How do I know? I was apart of the group that helped pass this.

Its main focus is to fix the foster parents shortage because as it stands there are only 52 foster homes for every 100 children in the Mississippi foster care system.

They can recruit new foster homes, but if they aren’t promoting retention, does it really matter?

Even in Mississippi’s own 2024 Annual Progress and Services Report, the state still identifies: “A lack of appropriate permanency resources.”

In plain English:

Mississippi still says there are not enough appropriate homes for children entering care.

Mississippi publicly reports:

✔ New foster homes licensed
✔ Recruitment efforts
✔ Training initiatives

But Mississippi does not consistently publish:

✖ Foster home turnover rates
✖ How many foster parents leave each year
✖ Placement disruption-related closures
✖ How many homes are inactive
✖ How many beds are actually available on any given day

Moving into part 4 of this blog series. One of the reasons why retention is so difficult is because foster parents and workers alike are trained for paperwork, not for trauma.

In foster care, showing up is only part of the job. The harder part is knowing what to do when:

📌 A child discloses abuse
📌 A placement destabilizes
📌 A teenager runs away
📌 A foster parent gives notice
📌 Trauma behaviors escalate
📌 Siblings are separated
📌 A crisis unfolds in real time

Those moments do not wait for policy manuals. They depend on training. Think on this, if the state is having a hard time training their workers how can they inform foster parents on what to do?

In Mississippi’s own 2023 APSR, the state reported delivering:

80 statewide trainings for child welfare personnel.

That sounds positive, but when you look deeper into Mississippi’s own training documentation, much of the reported training focused on:

📌 Court petitions
📌 Legal orders
📌 Documentation systems
📌 Dockets
📌 Compliance procedures
📌 Case-management systems

All of those matter, but foster care does not fail because paperwork is difficult. Foster care fails when children in crisis do not have adults who know how to respond.

And what is far less visible in Mississippi’s public reports are trauma-centered topics such as:

⚠️ Placement disruption prevention
⚠️ De-escalation strategies
⚠️ Trauma response
⚠️ Foster parent conflict management
⚠️ Placement preservation
⚠️ Therapeutic intervention

That does not necessarily mean those trainings are not happening. But it does mean the public cannot easily verify:

❓ How often they occur
❓ Who completes them
❓ Whether supervisors complete them
❓ Whether they improve placement stability
❓ Whether they improve child safety outcomes

For example:

Buried inside the same state report is another revealing detail, Mississippi reported it was still developing a five-module human trafficking curriculum in partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi.

Not revising.
Not expanding.
Developing.

In 2023. Nearly two decades after Olivia Y. began.

⚖️ WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTERS IF OLIVIA Y. ENDS? ⚖️

When the lawsuit was filed in Mississippi, they were not simply asking for:

📌 More workers
📌 More foster homes
📌 More training hours

They were asking for safety. They were asking for competent adults. They were asking for a system capable of responding when children were in crisis.

And if Mississippi wants federal oversight to end… the public deserves more than totals and percentages.

👀 COMING NEXT:

Part 5 — “A New Agency… Same Old Problems?”

Mississippi created its own child welfare agency in 2016. Years later, court monitors found the state was still missing dozens of required benchmarks. So what changed and what didn’t?

📚 SOURCES FOR PARTS 3 & 4:

⚖️ Olivia Y. Case Archive – Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/
📄 Original Olivia Y. Federal Complaint (PDF)
https://clearinghouse.net/asset/1047/
📑 2021 Olivia Y. Rebuilding Order (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Rebuilding-Order.pdf
📘 Federal Child and Family Services Review – Mississippi (PDF)
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/pi2208.pdf
📘 Mississippi 2023 APSR (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-APSR.pdf
📘 Mississippi 2024 APSR (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-APSR.pdf
📑 Second Modified Settlement Agreement (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Second-Modified-Settlement-Agreement.pdf
📰 Darkhorse Press – Mississippi seeks end to federal oversight
https://darkhorsepressnow.com/mississippi-seeks-end-to-federal-oversight-of-child-welfa

05/19/2026

🚨 PART 2 OF 10 🚨

➡️ “100 Kids. One Worker.” ⬅️

How impossible caseloads helped create Mississippi’s foster care crisis and why staffing may still be one of the system’s biggest vulnerabilities. When the Olivia Y. lawsuit was filed against the State of Mississippi in 2004, one of the most alarming allegations was a number.

Mississippi case workers were responsible for, 100 or more children at a time.

Not ten. Not twenty. more than one hundred.

For children already removed from their biological home when the child enters foster care, their safety does not depend on a policy manual. It depends on whether someone actually shows up. And according to the lawsuit too often, no one did.

⚠️ WHEN CASELOADS BECOME DANGEROUS ⚠️

The original Olivia Y. complaint alleged Mississippi’s foster care system was so overwhelmed that children:

📌 Went weeks or months without required face-to-face visits
📌 Remained in dangerous placements after warning signs appeared
📌 Had abuse reports delayed or missed
📌 Experienced placement disruptions without timely intervention
📌 Missed medical and mental health services
📌 And in some cases were allegedly harmed while workers simply did not have the time or support to intervene

The lawsuit argued these failures were not isolated mistakes. They were the predictable outcome of a system where workers were assigned more children than any one person could safely monitor.

🏛️ MISSISSIPPI SAYS CASELOADS ARE FIXED🏛️

Fast forward to 2026.

As Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asks federal courts to end Olivia Y., state leaders now say average caseloads have dropped to:

📉 11.3 children per worker

Compared to the lawsuit-era allegations, that is a dramatic improvement. On paper, that number suggests Mississippi solved one of its biggest failures.

But what does court records tell us?

In 2021, seventeen years after children first sued the state, the federal court issued what became known as the Rebuilding Order. Instead of ending oversight, the court ordered Mississippi to prove it could keep positions filled.

Why would a judge still ordering Mississippi to keep workers from leaving? Which leads to this final thought:

📂 THE NUMBER MISSISSIPPI DOESN’T PUBLICLY REPORT 📁

Mississippi publicly reports:

✔ Caseload averages
✔ Number of filled positions
✔ Hiring goals

What the state does not consistently publish in public planning documents:

✖ Annual caseworker turnover rates
✖ Regional vacancy rates
✖ Average years of frontline experience
✖ Exit rates among first-year workers

That means the public can see how many workers are hired, but not how many are leaving. And without that data, a lower caseload number tells only part of the story.

SO WHY THIS MATTERS IF OLIVIA Y. ENDS?

If federal oversight ends, Who verifies:

❓ Workers are actually making monthly visits?
❓ Turnover isn’t quietly rising?
❓ New workers are being properly supervised?
❓ Experienced investigators aren’t leaving faster than they are being replaced?

Because Olivia Y. did not happen because Mississippi lacked caseworkers. It happened because allegedly there were not enough trained, supported, and available workers to keep them safe. And nearly two decades later the court was still ordering Mississippi to prove it could keep those positions filled.

If the court steps away before that accountability is permanently replaced, Mississippi risks repeating the very problem that helped create Olivia Y. in the first place.

👀 COMING NEXT:

Part 3 — “A License Doesn’t Mean a Bed.”

Mississippi says it recruited hundreds of foster homes. So why does the state still report placement shortages and why doesn’t the public know how many foster homes are quietly leaving?

📚 SOURCES FOR PART 2:

⚖️ Olivia Y. Case Archive – Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/
📄 Original Olivia Y. Federal Complaint (PDF)
https://clearinghouse.net/asset/1047/
📰 WDAM – Mississippi seeks end to federal oversight
https://www.wdam.com/2026/05/12/mississippi-seeks-end-federal-oversight-child-welfare-system/
📑 2021 Olivia Y. Rebuilding Order (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Rebuilding-Order.pdf
📘 Mississippi 2025–2029 Child & Family Services Plan (PDF)
https://www.mdcps.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2025-2029-CFSP.pdf

05/18/2026

Over the next several days, we will be releasing a 10-part blog examining the potential dangers of removing this lawsuit and what the loss of federal oversight could mean for accountability in Mississippi’s foster care system.

We will be diving into the data, the court records, and the hard numbers to uncover the reality of where Mississippi’s foster care system stands today.

⚖️ Last week, Mississippi’s effort to end the federal Olivia Y. lawsuit and remove court oversight from the state’s foster care system.

Recently, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, alongside leadership of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, filed a motion asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit that has shaped Mississippi foster care for more than 20 years.

State leaders argue Mississippi’s child welfare system has changed and no longer needs federal oversight.

They point to:

📉 Lower caseloads
👥 More staff
🏡 More foster homes
📚 Increased training
🏛️ A separate child welfare agency

But after reviewing the records we believe the public deserves a deeper look before accountability is removed. Because Olivia Y. was never about paperwork. It was never about politics, and it was never simply about reorganizing an agency.

⚠️ Olivia Y. exists because children alleged they were being abused, neglected, seriously injured, and placed at risk of death while already in Mississippi’s custody and no one was holding the system accountable.

The original federal complaint alleged Mississippi’s foster care system created:

“An unreasonable risk of serious harm, abuse, neglect, and death.”

Those are not our words. Those are the words of the children who sued the State of Mississippi in federal court.

📂 Over the next 10 parts, we will break down:

🔎 What Mississippi was ordered to fix
📊 What the numbers actually show today
⚠️ Where the state may still be missing benchmarks
🏛️ What accountability currently exists
❓ And why ending this lawsuit before permanent public oversight is in place could risk inviting the same failures that brought children to federal court in the first place

This isn’t politics. This isn’t opinion. This is what the records show. And over the next week. We’re going to walk through it.

One issue at a time.

🔥 COMING NEXT:

Part 2 — “100 Kids. One Worker.”

How impossible caseloads helped create Mississippi’s foster care crisis… and why staffing may still be one of the system’s biggest vulnerabilities.

📚 Sources for Part 1:

⚖️ Olivia Y. Case Archive (University of Michigan Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse)
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse – Olivia Y. Case Archive
📄 Original Olivia Y. Federal Complaint (PDF) Original Olivia Y. Federal Complaint (PDF)
📰 Mississippi seeks end to federal oversight (May 2026) WDAM – Mississippi seeks end to federal oversight
📑 Second Modified Settlement Agreement (Official Settlement Documents) Second Modified Mississippi Settlement Agreement and Reform Plan
🏛️ Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services – Olivia Y. Lawsuit Documents
MDCPS Olivia Y. Lawsuit Documentation
📂 State of Mississippi Motion to Dismiss (Filed May 11, 2026 – PDF) State Motion to Dismiss Olivia Y. Oversight (PDF)

05/12/2026

⚖️ If Federal Oversight Ends… Who Watches the Children?

Some of my readers know that my home state is Mississippi.

My wife and I opened our home to foster care for nine years. During that journey, we were blessed to adopt three children who forever changed our lives. For the last seven years, we have also worked through our nonprofit, walking alongside foster families, advocating for vulnerable children, and helping amplify the voices of foster parents and the children placed in their care.

Because of that journey, child welfare is not just a headline to me.

It is not politics. It is not theory.

❤️ It is personal.

That is why recent reports that Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services is asking a federal judge to end oversight in the long running Olivia Y. foster care lawsuit should matter to every Mississippian, especially anyone who has ever cared for a child in state custody.

And it raises one question I cannot ignore!

If federal oversight ends, who watches the children?

📖 For more than two decades, Mississippi’s foster care system has operated under federal court oversight through the Olivia Y. lawsuit, a case born out of allegations that children in state custody were being failed by the very system designed to protect them.

Now state leaders are asking the courts to bring that oversight to an end, arguing that significant progress has been made and that Mississippi no longer needs federal supervision.

👏 And if genuine progress has been made, every advocate, foster parent, caseworker, and child serving organization should celebrate that.

⚠️ But progress and accountability should never be viewed as opposites.

In fact, true progress should welcome accountability.

🛡️ Because accountability is protection.

Federal oversight brought independent eyes into a system that historically operated behind closed doors.

✅ It created measurable benchmarks.
✅ It required documentation.
✅ It forced uncomfortable conversations.
✅ Most importantly, it created consequences when children were not protected.

🔍 So before any court agrees to remove that oversight, the public deserves clear answers.

📌 What independent monitoring will remain in place?
📌 Who will verify compliance once federal reporting ends?
📌 Will performance data remain public and transparent?
📌 How will foster youth, biological families, foster parents, CASA volunteers, nonprofits, and frontline advocates raise concerns if systemic failures return?
📌 If warning signs reappear, who will have the authority to intervene?

👧👦 Children in state custody do not vote.

📣 They do not hold press conferences.

💼 They do not hire lobbyists.

They rely entirely on adults, institutions, and systems to protect them.

History has shown us that systems without accountability often drift toward secrecy, complacency, and unchecked failures.

💙 Mississippi’s children deserve more than assurances.
✨ They deserve transparency.
📊 They deserve measurable outcomes.
🛡️ They deserve independent accountability.
❓ And until those protections exist outside of a courtroom, one question remains.

If federal oversight ends, who watches the children?

📚 Sources

1. WLOX News — Reporting on Mississippi’s request to end federal oversight in the Olivia Y. foster care lawsuit.
2. Mississippi Today — Coverage of the state’s motion to dismiss federal oversight.
3. WLBT News — Reporting on federal monitoring findings and compliance concerns.
4. A Better Childhood — Background, filings, and history of Olivia Y. litigation.
5. Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services — Agency reform updates and public reports.

05/06/2026

I once had someone tell me, “Lee… you’re like a bull in a china shop when it comes to this mission.” 🐂💥

Then they followed it up with…

“And honestly, you make people feel guilty for something that isn’t everyone’s call.” 💭

I have thought about that, a lot. 🤔

And maybe they were right about the first part.

Because when it comes to children who have been abandoned, abused, neglected, forgotten, or pushed aside! 💔

I am not overly concerned with protecting comfort, tradition, or appearances when it comes to chaplenging the church. 🙅‍♂️⛪

Neither was Jesus. ✝️

In Matthew 21:12–13, Jesus walked into the temple and overturned tables.

Why?

Because what was supposed to be holy… had become comfortable, routine, and empty. ⚠️

And Paul the Apostle warned the church in 2 Timothy 3:5 about people having…

“A form of godliness, but denying its power.” 📖

Religious activity. ⛪
Church attendance. 🙋‍♂️
Christian language. 🗣️
All the outward signs… 👀

But no Spirit. 💨
No power. ⚡
No action. 🚶‍♂️

Now are they right that foster care, adoption, or serving vulnerable children may not look the same for every person? 🤝

Of course. 💯

But caring for the vulnerable was never presented in scripture as optional. 📖❤️

How we live that out may look different!!

But ignoring it was never one of the options. ❌

I speak in churches across this country, on average at least 35 times a year.

And everywhere I go, I hear people say:

“We care about children.” ❤️
“We care about foster care.” 👶
“We care about adoption.” 🏡
“We care about families in crisis.” 🤲

And I believe many truly do.

But caring has never been the hard part.

Action is.

I am passionate because I have seen what many people never have.

I have seen children sleeping in hotel rooms because there was nowhere else for them to go. 🏨

I have provided clothes to teenagers who literally had nothing to wear. 👕🧥

I have helped families adopt children who were abandoned.

I have looked into the eyes of hungry kids coming from horrific circumstances, sometimes in the very backyards of the churches I am speaking in.

So when these conversations make people uncomfortable…

Maybe what feels like guilt is actually conviction challenging our comfort.

The church was never called to simply talk about brokenness. ⛪

We were called to step into it. 👣

Children do not need our sympathy.

They need our action. 🙌

04/30/2026

💔 A Story That Needs to Be Told 💔

Lately, I have seen other blogs and posts about how foster parents should feel.

That they should not celebrate TPR or adoption. That they should only hold space for the grief… understanding that while one family loses a child, another gains one.

And yes… that is true. 💛

There is always grief tied to adoption when it comes from foster care.

But what happens to the foster parent when everyone involved in that child’s life, courts ⚖️, social workers, and GALs, leads them to believe this will be an adoption…

…and then it doesn’t happen?

I heard a story this week about another foster parent who was preparing for a TPR hearing.

Then it was suddenly canceled. That turned into a family team meeting, and just like that, it became reunification.

In a matter of moments, everything changed.

This child had been in foster care for 2 years. This was the third time the child had been in foster care.

The emotional and mental toll on the foster parents has been too much, and they are closing their home 🏡💔

Not because they don’t care. Not because they didn’t love that child. But because loving a child through repeated cycles like that, and being led in one direction only for everything to change at the last minute, takes a toll.

They showed up 🆙
Through sleepless nights 🌙
Through progress 📈
Through setbacks 💔

And now they are letting go 😔

Not just of the child, but of what they were led to believe would happen.

Because this is the part people don’t talk about enough.

It’s not just the outcome. It’s the process.

Being told one plan. Preparing your heart and your home.

And then everything shifts overnight.

No warning. No time to process.

That kind of emotional whiplash is real ⚠️

Reunification should always be the goal, but foster parents shouldn’t be led to believe that a child will be available for adoption. That kind of messaging allows your heart to become even more invested.

Foster parents aren’t robots.

They love ❤️

And when the system changes direction at the last minute, that love doesn’t just disappear.

This foster parent wasn’t angry 😡
They were tired 😞
They were grieving 💔

And stories like this are happening more than people realize.

Maybe instead of telling foster parents how they should feel, we start acknowledging what they actually carry 💛

Lee - FLFA

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