Redemption In Action: A New Team Member’s Beautiful Story
Michelle Stewart has lived a full circle story. The adventure of her life brought her all the way from being fostered as a child herself to serving vulnerable kids and the families that care for them.
Because of her story, she can “relate to [kids in foster care] in a way that feels redemptive” for her. As a child, Michelle and her siblings had to be removed from their home and sent to live with their grandparents.
This would be called kinship care today, but during her childhood, there was no name for it.
The circumstances surrounding Michelle’s removal from her home were ambiguous, and the resulting confusion stuck with her for years. “I didn’t realize what really happened because it was so organic,” she said.
“I didn’t have any words for all of it.” Thankfully, she has come to a fuller understanding of what happened to her as a child, and it informs the impactful work she does today.
Looking back now on her foster care story, Michelle is moved to gratitude. She explained, “One of the things I appreciate about C127 is recognizing the grandmothers and the aunts and others that are doing this and recognizing that they need support.” Across the broad landscape of foster care and adoption, it is easy to overlook the less eye-catching stories of family members stepping in to provide kinship care, but locally, over 40% of kids removed from their homes are placed with relatives. Part of Michelle’s passion is for these selfless servants: the family members that aren’t necessarily prepared to step up in these ways, yet they do the hard work of caring for vulnerable children.
Well into her adult life, Michelle felt that the world of adoption and foster care was just a blurry part of her past. While she was thankful that her grandparents stepped into her life in a crucial way during her childhood, some unresolved pain motivated her to leave that aspect of her past in the past. She recalled, “That door felt closed.”
Indeed, the door remained closed for years, until one Sunday just a few years ago at Grace Church in Oviedo. Michelle was friends with two adoptive moms, and one invited her to a Commission 127 interest meeting.
She remembered being shown the training videos right then and there and getting signed up to be a team leader for Hank and Amy LaPorte’s care community.
Michelle recalled, “I was not sure what I was getting into.” “It was overwhelming because the needs were so great.” But she took the leap of faith, and several years later, Michelle is still serving the LaPorte family, and her passion for the work of foster care and adoption continues to grow.
In 2023, Michelle joined the C127 team! She works as C127’s FAM Ambassador to local churches and community leaders, conveying to them the importance and effectiveness of Family Advocacy Ministries. Her deep love for vulnerable children and foster and adoptive families as well as her passion for advocacy leads her to ask joyfully, “Is this really a job?” She seems to constantly brim with excitement, frequently conversing with strangers about FAMs even before starting her new job. “Just give me a minute,” she’ll say. “I want to tell you about this.” “It will change your life, and it will change other people’s lives.”
Her work truly has changed Michelle’s own life alongside the lives of countless vulnerable kids and families. Looking back on being fostered and adopted herself, she said “In my case, those chapters were closed and set aside.” “But they’ve been reopened now, and it feels so redemptive.”
Michelle’s favorite hobby is gardening. She loves being out in creation and exercising the patience it takes to cultivate beautiful flowers. She explained that gardening for her is “a sweet way to connect with all that you learn in scripture.”
Michelle enjoys working in her garden and growing flowers because there she gets to see how it all works: planting the seed, pruning the leaves, and blossoming into a gorgeous flower in its season. Like the petals of a fresh camellia or zinnia, Michelle’s story has unfolded in a beautiful way. From a painful and confusing beginning into a radiant display of hope in the present, Michelle embodies God’s gracious redemption. We’re blessed to have her as part of our C127 Family.