May 19, 2022

Foster Care, Adoption & The Church - Kids of the State with Darren Freidinger and Ian Minielly

1 hour

In this episode of The Bad Roman, we look at foster care and adoption. This topic comes by request from listener Darren Freidinger, who is a foster parent himself. Since Darren asked us to do an episode on this often discussed topic, we invited him to be the guest! Beyond being a father, Darren is passionate about the church stepping in and fulfilling its role to care for orphans. He shares his experience with foster to adopt, the foster care system, and alternatives to the state-run system.

Joining Craig and Darren in this episode is a long-time friend of the show, and Bad Roman contributor, Ian Minielly. Outside of writing articles on The Bad Roman Blog, Ian is also a foster parent and has experienced the great loss of having his first foster daughter taken from him and his wife. You can read his story in his short book, Emily's Tears, and hear a synopsis on the show.

Darren and Ian share their mutual and different experiences and struggles with the system, and what they see as ways to fix it and best work with it — and Craig compares his cats to children (as normal). This episode touches on every emotion and gives a glimpse into the system that holds the fate of thousands of children who become wards of the state, through no fault of their own.

Christians are called to care for orphans and widows – those who are helpless. We can do that even without fostering any children ourselves. More than anything, these kids need something positive in their lives. They need support. And it’s our job to provide for them. The question is, how?

Starting Points:

5:15 Why Darren’s a foster parent

9:52 Is there a better way to do this without the state?

10:38 Ian’s Story

17:09 Does the state want kids to get adopted?

20:36 Emotions and Turmoil

23:23 How can we fix this? It is not working

29:28 The Church is not being the Church

30:52 What it takes to become a foster parent [in Illinois]

40:00 Ian’s story continued

49:12 Older kids

51:54 Doing it just for the paycheck