When author Laura Boonstra and her husband Phil began their fostering journey, they had no idea what they would encounter: the contrasting emotions of joy and sorrow, the dramatic changes to their vision of what constitutes a family, their growing desire to seek justice for mistreated refugee foster children, and both the criticism and support they would receive for their efforts.
Boonstra observes, “Looking back on our foster care journey, it feels very meandering. Less like a clearly laid out path and more like the path of a lost wanderer looping around and sometimes back again before moving on in a completely different direction, then forward again, less like a seasoned traveler and more like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. But I am glad to remember that they did not wander alone. And neither have we. God led them with a pillar of cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night. We have been led by the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
In telling her story of refugee foster care, domestic foster care, and transracial adoption, Boonstra hopes to relate two things. First, she testifies to how God has provided again and again for them and the children they fostered and “to how God has used our imperfect offering to bring safety, hope, and joy.” Second, Boonstra wants readers to know the stories behind the statistics: “Without a personal connection to refugees or to children who have been affected by the foster care system, it can be easy to gloss over news stories reporting numbers and miss seeing the faces and lives they represent.”
Boonstra acknowledges that being a foster parent isn’t a good fit for everyone. However, she poignantly shows the immense impact that the support of family, friends, and their church family had on them, especially in the first weeks when myriad adjustments, both physical and emotional, needed to be navigated to welcome a foster child.
Our Family is Not a Tree is a compassionate, compelling, and justice-seeking call to follow the way of Jesus by personally caring for “the least of these” or by supporting people who are.
(WestBow Press)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.