Poverty, mental illness, abuse, addiction, and desperation can cause parents not to be able to provide for their children.
When this happens children can be placed into a system of care (called foster care) or be moved to live in an orphanage. In America and around the world thousands of children are in foster care or growing up in orphanages. They aren’t in safe and permanent families. When this happens it can be devastating.
Children who have endured these types of hardships need extra love and support to help them heal.
This is where Miriam’s Heart comes in.
We model our work after the story of Moses and his sister Miriam found in the Bible in Exodus 2.
The Egyptians were commanded by pharaoh to kill all male babies by throwing them into the Nile River. Moses was born into a time of grave danger. Not knowing how else to keep her son alive his mother made a desperate decision to hide him in a basket, placing Moses among the reeds by the river’s edge.
Moses’ sister, the Bible says, stood at a distance to see what would happen and bravely facilitated his coming into the care of Pharaoh’s daughter, even helping Moses’ mother be able to care for Moses as he grew. This is the first recorded story of adoption and foster care and we use it to inform the work of Miriam’s Heart.
We know that many factors can cause a child to need to be adopted or placed into foster care. Our heart is to help to support the needs of every vulnerable child honor their roots and help their families to be stable and strong.
Miriam’s Heart helps kids to heal from the hard parts of their own stories. Like Miriam in the Bible, we bravely intervene to make sure children are safe and have everything they need to thrive. We provide opportunities to share stories and connect with other kids who have had tough stuff happen in their lives too and help parents to receive support so that they can provide nurturing and safe homes. We make sure churches are invoked in this as well by creating a network of support through the Care Portal, allowing collaboration to holistically meet the needs of vulnerable children and families at risk. And we focus churches on the needs of children every November during Pure Religion Sunday which focuses on American children in foster care and on orphaned children around the world. We give grants to help offset the adoption and counseling expenses. We advocate for better laws to increase the protection of children. Miriam’s Heart also engages adult adoptees and survivors of childhood abuse and neglect to help us better meet the needs of children and families. We provide care packages and tangible tools to children who’ve been adopted or in foster care to equip their families with trauma-informed encouragement and care.
Moses didn’t have any control over the time and place that he was born. His biological mother did what she could to keep him alive. Moses’ adoptive mother provided for his needs and raised him as her own. God used each of them to fulfill His purpose and plan for Moses’ life.
Maybe you too were adopted or in foster care? We want you to know that nothing that has happened to you is your fault. We know that God has commanded his people to look after children who need help. When God’s people do this well, we can rewrite stories, just like Miriam did in the life of her brother Moses. As Moses grew his roots in his birth family and his standing in his adoptive family allowed him to fulfill God’s plan for his life. God never wastes a hurt. In fact, the Bible says that God will bind up the wounded and heal the broken-hearted.
And that God treasures our tears and sorrows.
Here at Miriam’s Heart, we get to play a part in the stories that God writes. By helping churches, parents, and individuals to create a healing, healthy, and safe place for children to grow, we allow children to rise above their past difficulties and thrive.
God knows you, He sees you, He hears you, He comforts you, He forgives you and He comforts you.
You are treasured.
Our Heart 