Shannon Dingle authored a blog series on Adoption and the Church during October-November 2014. The posts from Shannon’s series are available here…
October 14, 2014: Hi, I’m Shannon, and this is my family
October 16, 2014: The four kinds of special needs found in children in adoptive and foster families
October 21, 2014: Five ways the church can love their adoptive and foster families
October 23, 2014: #2…Churches should become trauma and attachment-informed
October 28, 2014: To love adoptive and foster families, (3) partner with us…
October 30, 2014: To love adoptive and foster families, (4) let our kids be kids
November 4, 2014: To love adoptive and foster families, (5) be willing to listen and learn
November 6, 2014: When it’s scary to say yes
November 9, 2014: I love adoption, but…
Shannon Dingle has a Master’s degree in Special Education, specializing in learning disabilities and autism, and formerly taught in public schools in Texas and North Carolina. She has served as a speaker at the D6 Family Ministry conference, the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference and Inclusion Fusion.
During 2012 and 2013, Shannon and her husband became parents of children with special needs. In summer 2012, they added a precious daughter to their family via special needs adoption; she’s a gal who has a lot of spunk and a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and a now-healed heart defect. In fall 2012, their son experienced a grand mal seizure, which eventually led to a diagnosis of childhood epilepsy. About a year later, the Dingles added a sibling group of three to the family via adoption, one of whom has HIV. As a result of their experiences, Shannon and Lee became more familiar with some of the emotional needs that are common among children from hard places.
Her blog is shannondingle.com.
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Recommended resource: Empowered to Connect
Empowered To Connect offers a wide array of resources for adoptive and foster parents authored by Dr. Karyn Purvis. They are all about helping parents create strong and lasting connections with their children in order to help them heal and become whole. They maintain an online library of articles, audio and video presentations covering a wide variety of topics for adoptive and foster parents as well as ministry leaders and professionals.
Church4EveryChild 
Many foster kids present with PTSD, and multiple personalities making care for them difficult, especially if you don’t know what’s going on.
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Hi Shelly,
Thanks for your comments. You’re very much correct in your observation about PTSD and kids in foster care. In my experience, multiple personality disorder is very rare. I think I’ve treated three people (one adult, two kids) with MPD in the last 29 years…none in the last fifteen.
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No. Just no. All of the above is simply reinforcing heinously bad behavior!
Also, my bible’s missing the page where Jesus advises folks to discard the kids they quickly tired of.
(My baby sis was diagnosed with a severe mental illness in grade school that often manifested as behavior that put her or others at risk. My parents got her help, stability took a decade! Had my parents given up after the 10th med, 15th therapist or 11th in-patient stay, there’s a pretty good chance she wouldn’t be here! Instead, she’s s happily married, college-educated, 30 yo social worker!!).
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What do I have to do to become a foster parent? Would I be able to adopt a child with a fix income?
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Thank you.
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