Foster & Adoption Support Ministry

 

We are dedicated to supporting the foster and adoptive community by raising awareness, recruiting new families and volunteers, and intentionally serving families, aged-out youth, and DCS staff.

 
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
— Psalm 82:3
 

Are you a foster or adoptive family looking for support?

Complete the Foster/Adoptive Family Form

Are you interested in learning more or volunteering with LifePoint’s Foster and Adoption Support Ministry?

Interested in Learning More or Volunteering

Volunteer Opportunities

  • Advocates are ministry leaders who are dedicated to seeing LifePoint’s Foster and Adoption Support Ministry thrive and grow. Advocates participate in monthly team Zoom calls and individual check-in calls. If you have leadership skills and desire to be fully involved in this ministry, please consider being an advocate.

    Current open advocate positions include:

    • Event Planning Advocate

    • Student Involvement Advocate

    • Riverdale Continuous Support Advocate

    • Redemption City Communications Advocate

    • Redemption City Continuous Support Advocate

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • WRAP team volunteers are matched with a foster or adoptive family. Volunteers commit to serve the family for a full year.

    Volunteers provide (W) words of encouragement, (R) respite care, (A) acts of service, or (P) prayer.

    Watch our video to learn “What is a Foster Care WRAP Group & How Do They Serve?”

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

    • Join our gopher team to meet immediate needs and provide random acts of kindness to foster/adoptive families.

    • Offer a specific skill (tutoring, yard work, hairstyling, photography, etc.) to the foster/adoptive community.

    • Write cards to celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, National Foster Care Awareness Month, and Adoption Awareness Month.

    • Help plan foster/adoptive showers for new families.

    • Sign-up to serve as a volunteer for one of our quarterly service projects.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • Our ministry gains new foster and adoptive families all the time. This is so exciting! This also means we often need new volunteers to be willing to regularly contact and check-in with families to lend a listening ear, offer a prayer, and share needs with the correct ministry advocate.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • Gently used clothing and accessories for children ages 0-18 can be dropped off during office hours at LifePoint’s Smyrna Campus. Essential hygiene items can also be donated at the church office. Volunteers can serve the closet by offering to sort clothing donations at our location in Murfreesboro. Individuals can also show up on open shop days to help foster families find what they need.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • Our foster parent support group is offered on a Saturday morning once a month. Volunteers can provide breakfast items for families, offer respite care for the children with special needs/teens during the support group time, and individually pray over foster parents.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • Aged-out youth often lack any form of a support system. You can be that support for someone who desperately needs it. Volunteers can serve as mentors and come alongside the youth to help meet needs, provide encouragement, and simply live life with them. Volunteers can also help provide monthly meals and prepare snack baskets for aged-out youth as food scarcity is a common obstacle.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

  • Volunteers can write birthday cards and cards of encouragement for DCS staff. Volunteers can also help make local business connections in order to coordinate donations for raffle items, breakfasts, lunches, and sweet treats.

    Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

Interested in Learning More or Volunteering?

If you are interested in learning more about fostering and adopting or would like to consider volunteering with us, please complete the form using the button above, and an advocate will reach out to you soon.


 
 

Meet Our Advocate Team

Abby Taylor

Ministry Coordinator, Smyrna Communications Advocate, & WRAP Team Advocate

I’m a foster, adoptive, and biological mom. My husband and I started fostering in 2020 and continue to do so. Fostering is the most rewarding and challenging “yes” we’ve ever given. It’s my desire for the church to be the answer for these beautiful children created in the image of God.

Paul Taylor

Smyrna Communications Advocate & Creative Design Advocate

I am a biological, adoptive, and foster father. I’ve fostered alongside my wife since 2020 and have seen firsthand the beauty and hardships of the foster care system. Having passions for graphic design and communication, I’m honored to use these skills to serve LifePoint’s Foster and Adoption Support Ministry.

Billy Taylor

Stewarts Creek Communications Advocate

My husband and I are a current kinship placement for our two nephews and are actively pursuing adopting them. We also have two biological children. We know how important it is to have accessible resources and support. The journey can become completely overwhelming at times and when you have the church surrounding you, God shows up in unbelievable ways.

Bo Taylor

Stewarts Creek Communications Advocate

My wife and I are a current kinship placement for our two nephews and are actively pursuing adopting them. We also have two biological children. We know how important it is to have accessible resources and support. The journey can become completely overwhelming at times and when you have the church surrounding you, God shows up in unbelievable ways.

Sarah Wilson

Riverdale Communications Advocate

My husband and I are a former foster family and have two biological daughters. We continue to be passionate about supporting the foster care community. We enjoy serving other foster families by volunteering with WRAP teams and The Shepherd’s Foster Closet.

Donald Wilson

Riverdale Communications Advocate

My wife and I are a former foster family and have two biological daughters. We continue to be passionate about supporting the foster care community. We enjoy serving other foster families by volunteering with WRAP teams and The Shepherd’s Foster Closet.

Lauren White

Smyrna Continuous Support Advocate

I am a wife and mother, and I have seen God’s heart for adoption and foster care woven throughout my life. My best friend growing up was adopted, and during college, I nannied for a family who faithfully fostered and adopted children. These experiences showed me the need to care well for families who are fostering or adopting.

Amy Pickard

Stewarts Creek Continuous Support Advocate

I am a former foster parent and adoptive mom to two boys (through domestic infant adoption and guardianship). I know how hard the foster and adoption journey can feel. Parenting children after adoption brings a new set of blessings and challenges. It’s my hope the continuous support team can help make the journey feel a bit lighter.

Janna Kay Holiday

Family Contact Advocate

I am an adoptive mom. I understand the feeling of being “alone” in the journey. I’m so thankful for the Foster and Adoption Support Ministry of our church. It is my hope that the family contact team will help both foster and adoptive families feel connected to our ministry, the church, and other families on this wonderful journey.

Ruth Meyer

The Shepherd’s Foster Closet Advocate

I am the director of The Shepherd’s Foster Closet. The foster closet was created to assist foster families with providing the basic needs for their foster children. We started the closet in January of 2012. Our family has been blessed to be able to adopt five of our foster children who needed a forever home. The closet has been a huge help in assisting us personally, along with hundreds of children each year.

Elizabeth Bullen

Adoption Support Group Advocate

Our two children joined our family through adoption - one through an international adoption from Haiti and the other through a private domestic adoption. The journey has included its share of challenges, both during the adoption process and after they came home. Through it all, we’ve grown as a family, and I’m passionate about walking alongside and supporting other families on a similar path.

Elizabeth Axe

Foster Parent Support Group Advocate

I was a foster parent for two years. Through foster care I was able to adopt our four children. I’ve always felt that if I had a support system navigating fostering, therapies, biological families, and trauma that it would have been a totally different experience for our family. I would love to offer a listening ear or be a resource to anyone interested in starting the journey of fostering.

Lizzy
AIignamath

Aged-Out Youth Advocate

I’ve been a member of LifePoint Church for most of my life, currently residing at the Riverdale Campus. I am an adoptive mom, have worked in the private adoption field in the past, and now currently work as the Program Manager for I Am Next, a nonprofit that works with youth who have aged-out of foster care. Being the advocate for this population was the perfect fit since this is what I do for my daily job!

Bethany Moran

DCS Support Advocate

As the wife of a LifePoint staff member and a grateful member of our church for many years, I’ve grown passionate about congregational care and quiet acts of service that help others feel loved. In my role as the DCS Support Advocate, I seek to encourage and uplift Department of Children’s Services social workers - those often unseen yet profoundly impactful in the lives of vulnerable children.

 

 

Some are called to foster.
Some are called to adopt.
Some are called to foster and adopt.
All are called to care and serve His children.

What will your “yes” be?

Become A Foster Parent

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, click here to view the current process with TN Kids Belong.