Peace Can Seem Hard to Come By Parenting is rarely peaceful. Most of the time it is chaos: overlapping schedules, special needs, work pressure, constant demands and meltdowns (by children and parents). Parents long to find control in the chaos. Parents can find the calmness they seek by developing systems and thinking through success strategies. Build Simple Family Systems Reducing …
Experience and Alignment Definitely Helps Sometimes, all it takes is hearing about the mission of Orphan Care Alliance. For Tim Bollenbecker, the call to help raise up Christian foster parents and equip churches to rise to the challenge in support vulnerable children resonated deeply. He knew this was where God was leading him. Today, Tim serves as OCA’s Regional Ministry …
The Need for Community The adoption, kinship care, and foster care journey is a mix of joy, challenge, growth, and uncertainty. While every family’s story is unique, one thing remains true: no one should walk this journey alone. For families considering foster care, navigating the adoption process, or parenting a child from a hard place, having a community that understands …
One of the most exciting moments in OCA’s Life Coaching programs is the match meeting, the first time a Life Coach and a young person meet. It’s a moment in which two people start to understand why the Matchmaker Himself brought them together. From Initial Interest to a Match When someone expresses interest in becoming a life coach, they are …
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When Amy Coleman accepted the position of Administrative Coordinator, her service to Orphan Care Alliance came full circle. “In 2005, I was one of the first five families that formed Louisville Orphan Care Initiative (LOCI). At that time, I acted as the central point of contact for calls, mail/mailings and all things administrative.” While OCA has been part of Amy’s …
A Grandmother Raising a Child: A First-Person Account My husband, John, and I did everything that we could to keep our granddaughter in our family when social services stepped in. There wasn’t any part of us that wanted her to go into foster care. Hannah belonged with us. We would attend OCA foster parent training to keep her in our …
Support That Comes from Understanding, and Paying it Forward When Cheri Farley first encountered Orphan Care Alliance, she was navigating the early days of parenting her youngest son, who had just joined their family from China. At the time, he is nearly 12 years old and carrying the weight of past experiences and trauma. “OCA understood me and the trauma …
In-Step with Kinship Families Kentucky has one of the highest rates of kinship care in the country. Some estimate that 55,000 children are being raised by relatives or friends. Other estimates put the number at over 90,000 kids living with someone other than their birth parents. These caregivers are grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and family friends who step in to …
A Life Coach’s First-Person Experience Barry Motes has been a Life Coach with Orphan Care Alliance since 2013. In that time, he has mentored a dozen foster youth. Barry speaks from a place of experience and a passion to see young people prosper. “Zane” is the twelfth young man I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Most of these relationships …
