Conference raises need for more foster and adoptive parents

Elizabeth Mabie
Spur Ottawa Correspondent

Ontario’s shortage of foster and adoptive parents has the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) turning to the Church for help. They reached out to local foster parent Hildy Sloots and her family who have organized Ottawa’s first All In conference, exploring God’s heart for the parentless.

“My personal vision for the conference came out of a response from my own heart,” explains Sloots. “God did some amazing work on my theology when our family took in our first foster child. As much as I was afraid to enter into the broken mess of people’s lives, God equipped me with a bold confidence and a fresh understanding of His heart, His love, and His sacrifice.”

All In takes place March 24 at Calvin Christian Reformed Church. The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and features author and speaker, Jason Johnson. It also includes four breakout sessions, exploring how adoption and the gospel intertwine, and two panel discussions with locals sharing their experiences of adoption and foster care.

“We’re not all called to do the same thing, but we are all capable of doing something when it comes to loving vulnerable children and families.”

“Foster care is tough. It’s heart wrenching, but more so it’s beautiful,” says Sloots. “The Father’s love for the broken, lost, and hurting makes me want to get deep into the pain of the vulnerable. I long to be in their lives, share the love of Jesus, and show them the way to eternal life.”

Sloots was inspired to organize All In from an adoption and fostering conference she and her husband, Matt, attended last year, in Hamilton. Sloots says compassionate friends and eager volunteers jumped in to make the planning go smoothly.

All In aims to encourage existing and prospective foster or adoptive parents, giving them the spiritual tools to look after a child and build a strong relationship with them. Sloots also hopes to encourage local congregations to become more involved in the lives of these children and the families that have taken them in.

“Equipping the Church to wrap their hearts around a broken family will be of benefit and strength to anyone involved.”

“We’re not all called to do the same thing, but we are all capable of doing something when it comes to loving vulnerable children and families,” explains Jason Johnson, All In’s keynote speaker. “Some of us need to open our homes and bring children in and others simply need to find a way to wrap around and support those families that are.”

“The Christians in Ottawa pray and work well together,” Sloots adds. “Equipping the Church to wrap their hearts around a broken family will be of benefit and strength to anyone involved.”

Sloots says All In is also a way to recruit foster parents for CAS. The organization is helping promote the conference and plans to send three representatives to provide information.

Johnson says foster and adoptive parenting “is the undeniable heartbeat of who God is as a father. You simply cannot miss this part of the nature of God in scripture. He steps towards hard places and broken people, including us, in order to bring about restoration and redemption. We cannot truly celebrate that about Him, but then in turn see hard places and broken people around us and step away. It is contrary to who He is.”

For more information or to register for the conference visit the website of the event’s sponsor: Resurrection Church.