INDIANAPOLIS — More than 400,000 kids across the country are in the foster care system right now. Those children are in need of a loving home, consistency and a place to stay.
For Brent and Amy Jo Fox their big ideas didn’t always start with yes.
“When our youngest biological daughter was 6 weeks old, we lived in Ohio at the time and I just remember we had a conversation in our living room still having a newborn just that we felt like God was asking us to step into foster care,” Amy Jo Fox said.
On their daughter's 10th birthday, they realized they never answered that calling.
"We had spent a whole decade too afraid to say yes," Amy Jo said. "So we decided we've been talking about this for 10 years and we're either going to jump in and say yes or we're never going to talk about it again, and so the next day we started the process to be licensed (to foster)."
Shortly after registering to foster one child, 10-month-old Davonte was placed with them. Ten days after that, his biological brother Xavier was born and needed a home, too.
“We said yes to both,” Brent Fox said. “And we kind of we kind of joke about it now. You know, God has a sense of humor.”
Soon after fostering they adopted both Davonte and Xavier.
“We were outnumbered just like that,” Amy Jo said.
Overcoming the fears they had for the last decade. Fears that they wouldn’t be able to handle it, they wouldn’t be able to provide, they wouldn’t be able to give their two daughters their full attention.
The Fox family is realizing now that their biological daughters have eyes that see people who are hurting, people who need help and people who just need family.
"It's what they've been able to experience that has given them eyes to see and a heart that these are people that I don't believe they would have had we continued to say no," Amy Jo said.
They said they wouldn’t have been able to get through the changed without the support from friends, family and even complete strangers.
That’s why now Amy Jo is a Hands of Hope Community Care leader, returning the services that were given to her.
She leads a team of people who support a foster family, whether it’s making meals, babysitting for a night out or just talking to the foster parents about the highs and the lows.
She’s giving to others what meant so much to her when she was fostering.
"It's amazing to see just by them saying, 'You know, maybe I'm not supposed to bring a child into my home or maybe it's just for not right now, but I want to do something to help,' and they stepped into that care community. If they are essentially strangers, you know, that became a part of our family story," Amy Jo said.
You can get involved right now whether it be signing up for adopting, fostering or even being a part of that care community.
You can learn more information on serving this community by visiting handsofhopein.org.
