The Don’t Go Alone program exists because our community often loses sight of teens and young adults who are aging out of foster care. Many have spent years in the system, and at 18 they are expected to navigate adulthood with little support.
Episode four of Running Toward follows Ariel Kraft as she shares what years of proximity have taught her: that healing takes place through relationship, and that presence carries real weight.
Motherhood, Responsibility, and the Limits of “Formula”
Ariel’s pathway into this work did not start with a program. It started with motherhood.
Early on, she assumed motherhood would be more predictable than it actually is. Like many parents, she carried an unspoken belief that if you do the right inputs—structure, consistency, biblical teaching, good choices—you can expect a stable output. She describes it as a “formulaic” way of thinking: if you do A and B, you get C.
But foster care and adoption have a way of breaking that illusion quickly.
As Ariel and Mike’s family grew—through international adoption and fostering—she found herself parenting children with histories she could not fully know, trauma she could not undo, and needs that could not be standardized. She names the weight plainly: stewarding children is always holy responsibility, but parenting children who have experienced deep disruption exposes how much is outside of our control, no matter how carefully we plan.
That unraveling was not merely inconvenient. It became clarifying. As Ariel’s grip on predictability loosened, her vision expanded. She began asking what happens to children who never experience consistent, safe, loving family at all—especially those who reach adulthood without anyone in their corner.
That question is where her focus on the Don’t Go Alone program begins.
The Group Most People Don’t See
In the episode, Jennifer introduces Ariel’s “lane” in the foster care crisis: teens and young adults who are unlikely to be adopted, and who often become functionally invisible as they get older.
Ariel explains how difficult it is to unsee what you begin to notice once you’re paying attention. She describes looking through public listings of waiting children—pages and pages of kids, most often older children and teens, still waiting for family. She also describes learning what happens downstream when young people leave the foster care system without stable relationships: housing instability, poverty, jail, exploitation, and cycles that repeat because support never arrived when it mattered.
This is one of the reasons the Don’t Go Alone program is built around relationships, not rescue fantasies. It is not a savior narrative. It is a commitment to show up for young adults who have been shaped by years of instability, and to stay long enough for trust to form.
What It Means to Age Out of Foster Care
Ariel offers a simple explanation of what “aging out” commonly looks like.
She describes two general tracks for 18-year-olds leaving foster care. One track is choosing to remain in extended foster care until 21, which can include certain supports like housing and stipends while they attempt to transition into adulthood. The second track is aging out at 18, receiving a one-time check from the state, and then being fully on their own to figure out housing, food, employment, education, and survival—often without healthy or stable family support.
Ariel and Jennifer both note something most people miss: even when biological family connections exist, those relationships are not always safe or healthy. The presence of a biological relative does not automatically mean the presence of support.
This is why the Don’t Go Alone program does not treat “turning 18” as a finish line. It treats it as a moment when support becomes even more necessary, because adult responsibilities arrive whether a young person has been prepared or not.
Why “Family” Is the Missing Infrastructure
Throughout the conversation, Ariel returns to a foundational belief: God’s design for children includes family-like relationships that provide protection, belonging, guidance, and consistency.
She describes how heartbreaking it is to sit with young adults who have never experienced something as ordinary as sitting at a dinner table with a mother and a father. Mike shares a story from their own home: a young woman became emotional simply because it was the first time in her life she had been at a table like that.
That detail matters because it highlights what this work is really about. It is not only about resources, job applications, or educational hurdles. It is about identity, worth, and what a young adult believes is possible for their life.
Ariel explains that many young adults aging out of foster care have endured experiences that distort self-worth and normalize exploitation. When abuse and neglect have been repeated—sometimes by people who should have protected them—relationship becomes both what they need most and what feels most dangerous to trust.
The Don’t Go Alone program was created to address that exact tension by offering relationship that is patient, consistent, and not built on performance.
What the Don’t Go Alone Program Actually Is
The Don’t Go Alone program is built on a simple premise: young adults aging out of foster care should not have to enter adulthood alone.
Ariel describes the heart of the program as “a ministry of presence,” where mentor families build relationship with young adults who want family-like connection. This is not framed as fixing someone. It is framed as walking with them, offering consistency, and creating space where healing can happen over time.
In the episode, Mike offers a practical example of how small obstacles can become insurmountable when a young adult has never had stable support. He tells the story of a young man whose dream was to attend UTSA, but an application fee felt like the end of the road. With a little relational support and problem-solving, that barrier was removed and the young man was able to keep moving forward.
That is not presented as a guaranteed outcome or a neat success story. It is presented as an example of what changes when someone is no longer navigating every problem alone.
The Don’t Go Alone program exists to make that kind of presence normal, not rare.
What Keeps People From Saying Yes
Ariel is honest about what keeps many families on the sidelines.
She names fears that are understandable: fear of the unknown, fear of lack of control, fear of how a young adult’s choices might impact a mentor family, and fear of inconvenience. She also acknowledges another barrier many people won’t say out loud: people often want a predictable “win,” and this space rarely offers tidy resolution.
Ariel and Mike both push the conversation deeper by reframing the goal. The goal is not to fix a young adult, control outcomes, or ensure a clean transformation story. The goal is to be present, to love them with dignity, and to participate in the healing process that relationship makes possible.
In other words, the Don’t Go Alone program asks for faithfulness, not heroism.
Why Ariel Chooses to Stay Present
At one point in the conversation, Jennifer asks Ariel what keeps her moving toward teens and young adults aging out of foster care rather than stepping back once the cost becomes clear.
Ariel’s answer is deeply personal and deeply theological. She describes being unable to ignore what she can now see. She speaks about Jesus leaving comfort to step into our brokenness, and she frames this work as a response to that reality. She does not present herself as uniquely qualified. She describes herself as compelled—because once you see a population that is consistently left alone, the option to remain comfortable starts to feel less like neutrality and more like distance.
This is also where the conversation intersects with the mission of the South Texas Alliance for Orphans: equipping the Church to care for children and families impacted by the foster care system, including young adults who are often overlooked once they reach adulthood.
The Don’t Go Alone program is one tangible way the Church can step into that gap.
Watch Episode Four and Learn About Don’t Go Alone
If you have never considered teens and young adults aging out of foster care, Episode 4 will expand your understanding of what the foster care crisis includes—and what it costs when the Church stays distant from the downstream.
Watch Episode 4 here:
https://alliance4orphans.org/running-toward/
Learn more about the Don’t Go Alone program here:
https://alliance4orphans.org/dga/
Because the crisis does not end when a young person turns 18. And family-like presence should not be something only a few people get to experience. Every relationship matters—and for young adults aging out, one consistent relationship can change what they believe is possible.
