News & Messages

Becoming a Foster Parent

Bishop Miller would like you to consider learning about becoming a foster parent. The Rev. Scott Leannah and his wife, Gina Kuemmel, felt the call to be foster parents several years ago. Read a bit about their journey.

My wife Gina and I became foster parents because it intrigued us, we were invited to consider it, and we met someone, Daniel, who had grown up in "the system" from the time he was two. We met him at age 17.  When we got licensed and he came to live with us, it was not easy!  However, today at age 25, we still hear from him and he comes over for dinner on a regular basis, and, when he does, he usually brings his laundry! After Daniel left our home, we felt another divine nudge, inviting us again to open our hearts and lives to another foster kid. The social worker threw a curve ball at us, however, and said, "If this little girl comes to stay with you, she isn't leaving; she needs a forever home." And so it happened. Mia, age 5, arrived for a visit, came for another one, and then shortly after that, she moved in. Six months later we adopted her. Today she's 13, in seventh grade and doing well.

Gina and I know that being a foster parent or adoptive parent isn't for everyone. It's challenging, rewarding, and, for us, something we feel we've been called to do. We don't advise parents to engage in fostering or adoption of a traumatized kiddo to fill an empty place in their own lives.

Meeting one's needs to be a parent is wonderful, but, in our experience, the love, dedication and work of fostering or adopting a traumatized young person requires one to be fairly whole, balanced and realistic at the "get-go." I do not mean to be negative — it's an amazing, life-giving journey of love, growth and discovery. It is essential to respect and reverence the story of children who, through no fault of their own, are caught up in a system that, try as individuals within it may, is not perfect or even ideal.

What is ideal? Every child should be loved, cared for, fed, and offered a place to belong. If you feel open to doing that, it may be the most impactful thing you ever do in the life of another person. The need is great. There are folks who say to Gina and me, "Oh, I admire what you're doing so much — I could never do that!" Actually, you can.  Please, pray about it, consider it, and learn more.

 ~The Rev. Scott Leannah and Ms. Gina Kuemmel

The need for foster parents in Milwaukee County is significant. If you or your congregation members are interested in learning more about fostering, please consider inviting one of the Recruitment Specialists from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Community Services to host an informational meeting at your church, present to your congregation, or consider posting flyers within your organization to promote the need for loving foster parents in our community. 

Please contact Sarah Sergeant via phone (414-231-4867) or , if you believe you may be able to help in one of these ways, or if you have any additional ideas of how we can continue to find safe and loving foster families for our children in foster care!

You can also learn more about becoming a foster parent or ways to support foster parents by reading some current foster parents’ stories about their experiences at the Kid Hero Blog.

Checklists for Vestries

Checklists from the Commission on Mission and Development
The Commission on Mission and Development has developed some tools for you to use together with your vestries that we're excited to share with you. They are all available on our website. 

Here are all the checklists and tools as pdfs for you to view. All the files are available as Word docs on our website so you can fill them out and adapt them to your settings.

1. Checklist for Congregations
2. Calendar of Worship and Events
3. Review of Goals
4. Review of Ministries
 
We encourage you to start using these tools with your vestries. If you have questions or need help in any of the above areas, please contact Canon Peggy Bean. We have wonderful people resources across the diocese who can help encourage and guide you.

Prayers for the United Methodist Church

Please keep the United Methodist Church (UMC) in your prayers February 23-26 as they meet in their special worldwide General Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The UMC has struggled for decades with many of the same issues around human sexuality that the Episcopal Church has. This special conference is focused on trying to find a way forward.

The results of this convention could radically change the structure and discipline of the UMC, which will determine the shape of the church that the Episcopal Church is seeking to enter full communion with. The UMC is a multi-national church with voting membership from all over the world. Please pray for our Methodist sisters and brothers as they struggle in much the same way as our own church has over the last few decades.
 
Here’s an RNS article that lays out some of the options.
 
Suggested Prayer:

Almighty and everliving God, source of all wisdom and understanding, be present with those who take counsel in the Special General Conference of the United Methodist Church. Grant them discernment. Help them in all things to seek first your honor and glory. As there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, help us to support our sisters and brothers in Christ as they seek to be your faithful servants. All this we pray in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen.

The Rev. David Simmons, ObJN
Rector, St. Matthias Episcopal Church
President, Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers