Prayer Points:

Pray for the people involved: 

• Pray for the parents that are putting in the hard work to be reunified with their children.

• Pray for the judges and those in the court system, that they know when to extend grace or when for when, for the sake of the child, they need to terminate parental rights. 

• Pray for the OKDHS permanency workers that have to coordinate with foster parents, biological parents, state child welfare staff, clinical services, and judicial systems hoping for the best outcomes, but ultimately are navigating brokenness. 

• Pray for the children involved. That their best wellbeing would be considered even when they might be unaware or unable to understand the gravity of all that is being decided on their behalf.

Pray for the places involved:

• Pray for the judicial system that judges would have eyes to see and that wisdom would prevail. 

• Pray for visitations between biological parents and their children that occur in places from fast food restaurants to OKDHS offices. Often these scenarios are not ideal, but we know that visitations can lead to reunifications. 

• Pray for the local church that they would have a passion for seeing restoration and reunification of the family. 

Activity:

Military families often understand the scenarios of reacclimating family members that have been away for military service for long periods of time. The joys of having the family member back are accompanied sometimes by the challenges of changing the way things have been done. Expectations and hopes can often be met with frustration. Go to CarePortal in Oklahoma through this LINK and pray over the requests that are for reunification. See beyond the need requested and pray about what these families might be facing as they reunify.

Get Involved:

• Even though reunification doesn’t happen as often as any of us would like, it is the goal of foster care. Finding a family to serve in the process of reunification may be difficult due to the confidentiality of their situation. We want to honor and protect families, but they do have needs that are helpful for community members to assist in meeting. 

  • Connect with a family in reunification by meeting a CarePortal need.

  • Look for ways beyond the request to see deeper needs. Could a phone call, text, ride, or meal be the very thing they need to have success in their journey?

  • Families from hard places often state that they don’t know how to have a healthy friendship. Could you start a discipleship journey with a family that you served that could help them live in a healthy community? We know you and this family could benefit from the connection.

• In our communities, we often celebrate new babies. How could we celebrate the reunification of families?

• One of the biggest needs in any community with child welfare is places to host visitations. Have a family-friendly business or church? Consider calling your local OKDHS office and offering it up for visitation. Especially if you have Wifi and snacks, it could be a welcoming sanctuary for a caseworker and a family that removes some of the chaos of public places.

Sophia’s Story (Continued):

Due to being so far away from home, Sophia doesn’t get to see her mom or brothers much. Over this last year, she has had to move into three different foster homes, which means she has had three different schools and three different families and communities to learn to adjust. She is with her brothers though! Her most recent foster home was able and willing to take her and her two brothers. The first thing she thought was, “Look how much they have grown,” when she was reunited with them. She gets to talk to her mom frequently, but COVID really limited the interactions that got to make in person. This really makes Sophia sad when she thinks about it too much. Sophia’s mom broke up and is no longer seeing her boyfriend. Sophia knows her mom is sad and lonely, but Sophia is really relieved that he is no longer a part of their family. Sophia’s mom is currently working an Individual Service Plan (ISP) to try and make some of the additional corrections that are needed for the courts and OKDHS to push reunification. Sophia sees positive changes in her mom. Even though her foster parents are kind, Sophia can’t wait to be back with her mom, brothers, and friends at school.

WATCH ARIELS STORY OF REUNIFICATION