Week 1:

Watch this video and read this guided prayer written by friends of ours in Charlotte NC. As you do, ask the Lord to open up your heart towards these vulnerable youth with many needs and to guide you as you pray for them today.

Week 2:

On average, 12 kids will age out of Foster Care in Spokane County this month.  Of those aging out of foster care nationally:

• About 1/3 don’t finish high school / GED, and only 40% will maintain a job (full or part time)
• 1 in 5 will be homeless immediately, with another 1 or 2 joining them in the next 2 years.
• 20% are arrested or booked into jail within the first year, and 40% are incarcerated by age 20.
• Half of them abuse substances.
• 3 out of 4 of the girls will be pregnant by age 21. They are also 80% more likely to be sex trafficked.

Here in Spokane, DCYF offers a voluntary “Independent Living” program for ages 15 – 22 that teaches essential life skills, career exploration and financial basics.  But if their basic needs are not met, higher level needs cannot be met. Couple this with negative experiences (abuse, abandonment, trauma) leading to their entry into foster care (and during foster care), learning these skills is difficult at best.

“But we serve a God that is bigger than all those statistics. We serve a God that can turn all of those statistics around, but it requires the church to step in the gap on their behalf.” – Scott Brown, CAFO Aging-Out Initiative Coordinator

Let’s pray:

• every youth who ages out of the foster care system in Spokane would have the resources necessary to survive and to thrive as an adult living on their own.
• they would have a support system of adults in Spokane who will guide them through the process of aging out (trusted social workers, mentors, THE CHURCH!)
• that GOD would reveal ways for the people and churches in Spokane to tangibly support children who must age out of the foster care system.

Week 3:

As we continue to pray for the young people aging out of the foster care system, let’s consider this verse from Psalm 68.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” – Psalm 68:5,6 (NIV)

Pray for:

• good community for these teenagers to find, particularly in the church.
• God’s protection of them as they navigate new challenges and opportunities in life.
• God’s provision for them physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

Week 4:

This week, we will focus our prayers on the much needed mentors: the adults who come along side these young people and help guide them into adulthood. Let’s start by considering another scripture:

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16, the Message

Pray for:

• God to raise up workers out of his church here in Spokane, who will mentor, love, serve, and help these teenagers.
• these mentors to have wisdom, discernment, strength, and grace to know how best to help the youth they serve.
• the aging-out youth to see God’s love for them through their mentors.

Week 5:

We’ll close out our month by again focusing our prayers on the young people aging out of foster care and begin by considering this scripture from Jude:

“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.” – Jude 1:20-25 (NLT)

Pray for:

• those who have already stumbled into homelessness, engaged in criminal activities, become trafficked, or become further victimized in some way. Pray for supportive organizations to grow in order to meet the needs of kids who have aged out and found difficult life paths.
• the ability to break the cycle and find success in life. Pray for safe and secure housing, good-paying jobs, open doors, and favor in college.
• more mentors (business leaders, community leaders, church leaders) to speak life and wisdom to this vulnerable population of young adults.
• more resources to support young people in establishing their new lives so that they are not only able to survive but to thrive.

I recently read in my time with God:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Prov. 31:8-9).

So here I go; Foster Care in Spokane needs YOU! Maybe you’ve already heard. Maybe it’s news. Here’s the truth – Hundreds of kids in our city, through no fault of their own, currently live without stable, loving adult care. And God’s Church is uniquely positioned to provide that exact thing.

Yes. God’s CHURCH. Not that amazing couple sitting next to you on Sunday or the kind social worker you met at Retreat. I mean YOU (and the cool couple and the sweet social worker) and every other person in the Church. God calls His people to action. James 1:27 (Spokane127‘s namesake) boldly states “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

For now, let’s focus on the first half of this verse. (I promise to share some juicy nuggets on the second half in an upcoming post.) Religion our God accepts is to VISIT the orphan and widow. I wonder why this is “acceptable” to Him? Maybe it feels very familiar to Him? If I step back and compare, it looks VERY similar to what He did, visiting us in the incarnation. Us being orphans. Widows. Spiritually. Without much hope. He didn’t chose to stay distant. Sending care from afar. Throwing money at the situation. He entered into our chaos. Into the midst of it. In. To serve. Got WITH us.

THIS is what He asks of us. To serve. To visit. Not from a distance. WITH.

So, Church, it is time to visit the world of the orphan. It’s time to find your manger. Engage! “But, how?”, you ask?

How to VISIT Foster Care:

There are so, so many ways!

Maybe you say, “There is just no way to open up my home and foster a child right now.” That’s OK! The great news is God doesn’t call everyone to foster. (If He IS calling you to foster, we’re here for you! Give us a call!) He DOES, however, call us all to do SOMETHING. Spokane127 is here to help you FIND and DO your something.

There’s a T-shirt I often wear around town- “Adopt & Foster & Mentor & Support & Advocate & Volunteer & Pray.” I love it because it paints a the great picture. Just like the Body of Christ isn’t all eyes (see 1 Cor 12:17-20), the way we serve within foster care isn’t either. Here’s a tip-of-the-iceberg list:

-Advocate for the needs of kids in foster care in your local church. (Maybe start by wearing your own t-shirt at church. ;))

–Volunteer to drive for DCYF. They REALLY need the help!

-Personally cheer-lead a social worker who serves Spokane kids in care, through our Social-LIGHT program.

-The NUMBER 1 BIGGEST way to support foster care, the kids, the families, the whole system, is PRAYER. Pray for them every week. Commit to it. Make a calendar reminder with an alarm.

Here at Spokane127, we dedicate time weekly for foster care prayer. Host your own prayer meeting at church, small group, with your family, or solo. As you lift up the needs of these precious kids, their fragile families, and all those who support them, and who are affected by foster care you’ll begin to see God’s heart and your place in serving them.

Our site is a great source for ideas, prayer guides, and information. Start with prayer. End with prayer. And pray throughout the middle. THAT is the #1 way the Church can support Foster Care.

And look for me around town in my T-shirt. I’ll be looking for yours.

Teens in foster care face many unique challenges, with longer history of instability:

• They have often experienced a higher number of placements.
• Likely have lapses in their education journey.
• In addition to family instability, the high number of placements means repeated disruptions in social/friend network supports.
• Transportation challenges, like reduced access to a car, make it harder to get a job, earn money and enjoy the increased freedom their peers are experiencing.
• Statistics stack against them in regard to drugs, alcohol and pregnancy.
• Foster parents or other authority figures present ample opportunity for conflict.
• Facing the possibility of aging out of care, and all the negative impacts that brings.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Each situation is unique. God knows each and every one intimately. None of these things are what they chose for their life and all of them are outside of the heart of God for their life. Join us in praying for the reversal of these things and more. Ask God, the promised Father to the fatherless, to bring healing, stability, and wholeness through networks of support and loving community. Pray they would have belonging, identity, and purpose. Pray that the church would see, welcome, and minister to this group of hurting youth in our city. Ask God how you can be part of the solution.

Prayer is a simple & powerful way to get involved in foster care. We pray regularly for the foster care community of Spokane and invite you to join us in our 2026 monthly focus. 

Below, you can find a few resources for you as you pray for children in care, their bio-families, and the social workers and foster-families that serve them (not to mention the host of others all serving these kids, like judges/commissioners, CASA/GALs, specialists… etc.). 

1. Mal 4:6 Pray for the restoration of families, specifically for fathers. Pray that the words of Jesus will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the children to their fathers.
2. Ps 68:6 – Ask God, the father to the fatherless, to give us, His church, a heart of radical hospitality towards the lonely that He wants to put into OUR families.
3. Jam 1:27 – Pray that the church would capture the fullness of God’s call to intimately care for vulnerable kids and support fragile families AND in all these things, 1-3, that we the church would become that profoundly unique and enticing peculiarity in our culture that draws people to their Creator.

National Day of Prayer is over, but I continue to pray these prayers over Spokane, the CHURCH, and our country.  Please join me.