Fostering Hope
A Prayerbook for Foster and Adoptive Families
Edited by Robert W. Lee
Foreword by the Rev. Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes
Praise for Fostering Hope
This is a beautiful new spiritual resource for all the beautiful new families that, with each passing day, bless our world more and more.
— Father James Martin, SJ, Author of Learning to Pray
“This is a beautiful volume of prayers and reflections—one that captures much of the nuance and complexity of adoption, and seeks to give voice to the variety of people at the center of adoption stories. The book gives space for raw grief and for glimmers of grace, without being overly saccharine about the adoption journey. With its prayers of lament, gratitude, joy, and frustration, this slim volume pricks the heart and stands to encourage any whose lives are touched by adoption/fostering.”
— The Rev. Meghan Benson, Chaplain, Duke University Divinity School
I believe in prayer! I know its power and I see its strength in action every day of my life. I believe too that when every new child issues forth into this world, crying for air, struggling for life, their very presence is a sign that God is not done with us. All children are a gift from God and if you believe like me they are a sign…God is not done with us yet…then every child belongs to each one of us, no matter who the biological parents may be. Yet, as Chanequa Walker-Barnes writes in her forward to this anthology of prayers, “nothing about foster and adoption is easy…” and as the adoptive of father of two sons, and the biological father of one son, I can tell you first hand Dr. Walker-Barnes speaks truth. Notwithstanding, caring and rearing God’s children…filling them with love and curiosity, kindness and humility and teaching them to live lives of gratitude is so worth it.
Simply put, this book of prayers, edited by Robert W. Lee, one of the bright lights in our world, is inspired. It is chalk full of collective wisdom and comfort, wonder and challenge, power and strength and joy and sorrow. Had it been around when my sons were growing up, it would have had a prominent spot on my night stand next to my Bible and Book of Common Prayer. By now its pages would be worn and dog eared from use. If you are the parent of a child, foster, adopted or biological, Fostering Hope: A Prayerbook for Foster and Adoptive Families is for you.
— The Very Rev. Samuel Colley-Toothaker, Dean, St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Fresno, California
Having recently become an adoptive grandparent, reading through these pages touched deep places in our experience and prepared me for things that lie ahead. The prayers resonate with thoughtful spiritual insight, bold honesty, and deep love. Along with providing a devotional resource, it made me aware of things I had not considered and will be a beautiful gift of wisdom, guidance and faith to everyone who shares in the experience of adoption.
— The Rev. Dr. James A. Harnish, United Methodist Minister (Retired) and Author of Finding Your Bearings: How Words that Guided Jesus through Crisis Can Guide Us