When the Buccolas married, they knew they wanted a big family.
But the couple, parishioners at The Shrine of St. Martin of Tours, didn’t expect their family would be formed by foster care and adoption.
“In your wedding vows, when they ask you, ‘Are you open to life?,’ you never imagine ‘open to life’ in this way, but it’s the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to us,” Valerie Buccola said in a recent interview.
During October, the Archdiocese of Louisville will join other U.S. dioceses in observing Respect Life Month. Several events will highlight the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
This year, the archdiocese is drawing particular attention to foster care.
The Buccolas, who began fostering 10 years ago, adopted the first four children they fostered and went on to foster approximately 35 additional children.
Valerie Buccola continues to advocate for foster families through Kentucky Kids Belong, an organization that creates videos portraying foster children to seek prospective adoptive parents.
Responding to the challenges of families in crisis is essential to creating a culture of life, said Stuart Hamilton, pro-life events coordinator for the archdiocese and a theology teacher at Trinity High School.
Kentucky’s foster care system has been in crisis for some years, said Hamilton in a Sept. 19 interview.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, children were entering the foster care system at a greater rate, while, at the same time, many foster families were leaving, he explained.
“The system has been overwhelmed. The private foster care organizations are similarly overwhelmed,” said Hamilton.
Private foster organizations help place foster children with families in non-state-ordered circumstances. Such cases may include parents who need to attend an addiction recovery program or have a brief incarceration. Children in these circumstances are also awaiting foster parents, said Hamilton.
“This is a mission of the church, not just the state,” he said.
He believes the church can help ease this crisis in a variety of ways.
“The needs are not just for foster parents,” said Hamilton, noting that donations are needed, too.
Foster children who emerge from emergencies often have very little, explained Hamilton.
Buccola said, “Most of the kids that would come into care came with nothing.” Ministries that distribute donations are essential, she said.
“One night we had an emergency call at 5 a.m. for a five-month-old baby, and we didn’t have any baby stuff at our house,” she said. After reaching out to Hope’s Closet, an organization that provides free clothing and other items to foster families, the family was supplied with all the essentials by the next day, she said.
Parishioners seeking to help could host collections for organizations that provide needed items to foster families, such as Hope’s Closet, said Hamilton.
There is also a need for respite care providers — couples or single people who can foster a child for a short period while their foster parent attends an appointment, is sick or travels out-of-town.
“That is a great way to help families that are fostering,” said Hamilton. “It helps relieve the pressures of those involved in that ministry.”
Respite care also provides an opportunity to improve the life of the child, he added.
“Even if you are willing to take a foster child fishing, you are sharing life skills, giving one-on-one attention,” said Hamilton.
Buccola’s family currently provides respite care to other families, she said.
“Respite care is a really good way to get into foster care. You sign up to help other families in need — as much as you want to, as little as you want to. … It’s like an aunt, uncle, grandparent-type role, where you get to have a good time,” she said.
Families also can consider if God is calling them to the ministry of foster care, said Hamilton, noting, “We are hoping that people who want to get involved can see if this is something they are called to do.”
“It’s a courageous calling. It’s very self-sacrificial because the goal is to reunify the children with their biological parent,” Hamilton noted.
Bucolla explained that her and her husband’s call to foster is rooted in their faith.
“Our Catholic faith has been the number one driver of all of this. It truly is the meaning of living our faith — dying to yourself, giving of yourself completely,” she said.
Hamilton added that, “Every child is made in the image of God.”
“Loving them at a very vulnerable part of their life reflects the charity of Christ himself,” he said. “They matter and they are deserving of love, and the love of a family.”
Buccola added, “What child is ours anyway? They’re all from God.”
The archdiocese will host a presentation on foster care featuring Julie Barkley, executive director of Operation Open Arms, a private foster care organization, on Oct. 20 at St. Gabriel Church, 5505 Bardstown Road, after the noon Mass. The presentation will promote foster care awareness in Kentucky and address how families can get involved.
Resources on the Respect Life theme of “I came so that they might have life” are available at respectlife.com.
