SAN ANTONIO – Christian Family Church Pastor Rebekah McKay knows firsthand the high price kids pay for their safety.
“By the time I was 12 years old, I became a ward of the state. There were seven of us. I have six brothers and myself,” said McKay.
She said, “We were now protected from our father, but we lost all that was left of our family.”
McKay promised herself she would never forget where she came from, and as a pastor, she has come full circle. She founded the Christ Coalition, offering foster care support.
The coalition began as a committee 20 years ago for the Blue Ribbon Child Abuse Task Force.
“To really work with so many churches that provide counseling and provide housing, provide just all types of intervention,” McKay said.
The mission is truly grassroots.
“In the areas where the most removals take place, like in (ZIP code) 78207, we have several churches, and at least five of our pastors have adopted some adopted 17- and 18-year-olds,” McKay said.
On Nov. 12, she will lead her congregation in observing the national Stand Sunday, which focuses on the needs of foster children.
On Stand Sunday, McKay will be praying and educating her congregation on the many ways to help. That includes adopting and fostering kids, but it also helps the families who have already taken kids in.
“Providing babysitting, providing transportation to doctor’s appointments, helping with extracurricular activities,” said Nevetta King, the director of Faith-Based Initiatives at SJRC Texas.
SJRC Texas is a foster care organization overseeing 27 counties.
“There are more children in care than there are homes,” King said.
That is part of the current foster care crisis, especially for teens and sibling groups.
“The children that have suffered the most trauma, they have the most behaviors, and that causes them to have a higher level of care. And so it’s harder to place them. That’s how they end up out of state,” King said.
“They’re really just lost in a world of strangers and strange places, and so they really lose hope,” McKay said. “That’s where a large percentage of our youth that don’t have families and a safe place to call home end up in our juvenile justice system, and then they graduate to prison. So it’s just a real horrific cycle.”
Foster children have the best outcomes when they can stay in their communities with their siblings. However, it takes education and willing families to make that happen.
“I just really want to communicate the passion and the heart of the child whose heart cries are never heard because they just want someone to love them,” McKay said.
She knows congregations region-wide can truly create that life-changing love.
Head to the organization’s website if you want to participate in Stand Sunday.
There is also a virtual SJRC event this Saturday, Nov. 6, where the public can learn more about fostering children. To register, head to the SJRC website.