When I was a fairly young father with five kids, I had a crazy idea. Perhaps my wife, Janene, and I should become foster parents. I was good with kids. I liked to get down on their level and thought it could be a way of helping children who didn’t have a happy home. But that thought didn’t last. I didn’t even mention it to Janene. Our own children demanded too much of our time and energy. And I wondered if I had enough love to go around if I added another person to the family.

But as I thought about it, I realized that love is not like a jug of water that can only be spread so far. Instead, love is like an ever-flowing river that keeps expanding to fill every corner of our lives. As we added each child to our family, our love for our existing kids didn’t lessen; our love expanded to the new arrival.       

Many years later, my son, Scott, and his wife, Lauren, did what I hadn’t the courage to do—they fostered Dax. Soon, we fell in love with him, so Scott and Lauren adopted him. Then, they fostered Grace. They started out with no intention of adopting another child, as adding Dax to their other four children made the full house even fuller. But like Dax, we soon fell in love with Grace, and Scott and Lauren adopted her. And like that river, our love expanded to envelop both of them.

I recently watched a sneak preview of the film Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.[i] It is the true story of Possum Trot, a small East Texas town in which Donna and Reverend WC Martin begin fostering children and then urge the members of their church to do the same. In all, 22 families fostered 77 children. Many of those ended in adoption. These were kids that nobody else would take.

Here is the official trailer for the film. Like the film itself, it is a bit preachy, but the message is an important one:

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot premiers nationwide on July 4th. The title of this blog post comes from the film: “Love is kind, love protects, and love never gives up.” I saw that epitomized in Scott and Lauren as they added each child to their expanding family. It is never easy raising a child—any child—but it is especially true of foster children. The film points out that 70 percent of children in the foster system are there because of neglect. The other 30 percent have been put through hell, meaning abuse. Both Dax and Grace had gone through some of that hell. I watched Scott and Lauren slowly break down the barriers erected by abuse and abandonment. It wasn’t always easy. But as the old expression goes, love conquers all, and soon, that love—and patience—resulted in Dax and Grace first tolerating, then accepting, and then embracing their new family’s love.

I am not naïve enough to believe that all foster parents like Scott and Lauren are exceptional. We have all heard of abuses inflicted by foster parents. And not all foster kids can accept the love offered by even good foster parents. But often, a loving parent—foster or otherwise—can make a monumental difference in a child’s life. And there are too many children who still need a loving family. According to the National Council for Adoption, in 2022, there were 108,877 children waiting to be adopted.

I recently watched another film about fostering endangered kids. But the danger this time was not due to neglect or abuse. It was due to Nazi Germany. One Life[ii] tells the true story of Sir Nicholas Winton, a young English stockbroker who, immediately before the outbreak of World War II, rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, putting them in foster homes in Great Britain. Here is the trailer for this film:

Sir Winton’s challenges were far different from those faced by the foster parents of Possum Trot, Texas. He had to convince his government to transport them to England, get the necessary paperwork, and find enough foster families to take them. And he needed a team of faithful volunteers to help him. The film focuses on the agony Sir Winton experienced from not getting more children out of Czechoslovakia, but I kept thinking of the parents on both sides. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to let go of your child and send them to a foreign country, knowing you might never see them again. And how hard it was for those British families to take children sight unseen who don’t even speak the same language as you do and were raised in a totally different religion.

Through a popular British TV show, Sir Winton learned how his efforts made a difference in the lives of the 669 mostly Jewish children he saved and the over 6,000 descendants of them. Here is the closing scene from the film, showing the real Sir Winston and some of the children he rescued:

Both movies were hard for me to watch. Seeing the abuse inflicted on innocent children by abusive parents and Nazis is not a pleasant experience. But I also kept thinking about our son, Scott, who we recently lost due to mental illness, and our daughter-in-law, Lauren, and the challenges she now faces as a single parent of six children. However, like the Possum Trot community, extended family and friends are rallying around Lauren and her children, and we will do our best to fill the void left by Scott. We know it won’t be easy, but most of the things in life worth doing are not easy.

I am grateful for my loving parents, who provided me with love and protection and never gave up on me despite my shortcomings. And I am grateful for parents, siblings, extended family and friends everywhere who do the same.

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[i] Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot:

• Production Companies: Peacetree Productions and 3.16 Productions
• Director: Joshua Weigel
• Screenwriters: Joshua Weigel and Rebekah Weigel
• Starring: Nika King, Demetrius Grosse, and Elizabeth Mitchell
• Release date: July 4, 2024

[ii] One Life:

• Production Companies: See-Saw Films, MBK Productions, and BBC Film
• Director: James Hawes
• Screenwriters: Lucinda Coxon, Nick Drake, and Barabara Winton
• Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin, and Johnny Flynn
• Release date: January 1, 2024