May is National Foster Care Month, a time to focus on the needs of children in foster care and to honor the families who welcome them. As Catholics, it is also a time to ask how our parishes and families can respond more fully to vulnerable children and to the foster, adoptive and kinship families who care for them.
When my husband and I began fostering 12 years ago, we did not know any other Catholics who were fostering. It was overwhelming to navigate the foster care system, and we longed to find other Catholics walking this path. As we began welcoming children into our home, often with very little notice, we also discovered how much we needed the support of our parish in those first urgent days and beyond.
The experience eventually led us to found Springs of Love, a national Catholic apostolate based in the Diocese of Columbus, to help parishes welcome and support foster, adoptive and kinship families. Springs of Love chapters help parishes build a culture of fostering and adoption by raising awareness, accompanying families through Care Teams, and hosting small groups for foster, adoptive and kinship families, and those considering foster care or adoption.
Through this work, we have heard again and again that Catholic foster and adoptive families feel isolated and unseen. Many are loving children whose stories include loss, trauma, and uncertainty. They need formation to see their calling, and the stories of the children they welcome, through the lens of faith. They also need community, prayer, encouragement, practical support and a reminder that they are not alone.
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Here in the Diocese of Columbus, a beautiful network of support is developing. Springs of Love chapters are active at Delaware St. Mary and Columbus Immaculate Conception parishes, with a new chapter beginning at Newark St. Francis de Sales Church.
Bishop Earl K. Fernandes has expressed his “whole-hearted support for the apostolate’s efforts in building a culture of fostering and adoption in our Catholic parishes.” In a May 2026 letter of support, he called the mission “an integral part of proclaiming the Gospel of Life” and noted that one of the most powerful ways the Church can support vulnerable children is by “offering practical support to the families who love them, in addition to supporting them with prayer.”
At Delaware St. Mary, that support has already made a tremendous difference for the Yonkura family. “Children in foster care belong to God first and to our community second,” said Kate Yonkura, a foster parent at St. Mary. “Springs of Love offers a way for our Catholic church community to come together to love on these children and their caregivers.”
Yonkura said the newly established chapter came alongside her family after they were already “10 years deep into fostering medically complex youth.” Since then, parishioners have prayed, brought meals, found car seats, cribs and beds for children arriving with little notice and offered many other acts of love.
“They bring our family home-cooked dinners every Sunday night, and then we get to spend more time together as a family,” Yonkura said. “They found two retirees who came weekly to rock the baby when we welcomed a fragile preemie on oxygen.”
For Yonkura, the support has helped her family continue to say “yes.”
“Our family caught a second wind when Springs of Love was born at our church,” she said. “We were reminded that helpers were in all the pews.”
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The Yonkura family’s story is part of a growing national momentum in the Springs of Love mission.
Springs of Love recently received a $50,000 award through the inaugural National Foster Care Innovation Challenge, hosted by the Flourish Fund in collaboration with Eagle Venture Fund and with support from Google.org and the Aviv Foundation.
Following a competitive review of 110 applicants, Springs of Love was chosen as a recipient for its model equipping the national network of the Catholic Church to recruit and support foster and adoptive families at scale.
Foster, adoptive and kinship families, those considering foster care or adoption, and anyone interested in supporting them are invited to the second annual Springs of Love Family Mass & Picnic: Celebrating Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Families at 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 25 at Gahanna St. Matthew the Apostle Church. The evening begins with a Mass of Anticipation for Sunday followed by a picnic dinner, family-friendly activities and a preview of Building Belonging, Springs of Love’s Catholic small-group program, with guided conversation for adults and supervised activities for children. To register, go to https://springsoflove.org/chapters/columbus/picnic2026/.
To support Springs of Love, visit May Campaign – Springs of Love.
