What helps vulnerable kids truly heal and thrive—especially children navigating disability, trauma, foster care, or adoption? In this conversation, Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down with Rachel Medefind, Director of the Institute for Family Centered Healing and Health at the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), to explore how God uses loving families, local churches, and simple daily practices to foster whole-person health. Drawing from her own story, her work at CAFO, and current research, Rachel offers deeply hopeful, gospel-rooted encouragement for parents, foster and adoptive families, and church leaders who want to walk faithfully with vulnerable kids.

From Manila to CAFO: How God Shaped Rachel’s Calling

Rachel grew up in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, where her parents served as church-planting missionaries. From age five to eighteen, she watched the gospel lived out in community and experienced deep, cross-cultural friendships that shaped her understanding of family, church, and God’s heart for the nations. During those years, her family adopted a baby boy from the Philippines through Holt International. As an eleven-year-old big sister, Rachel was captivated by this little brother—waking with him at night, helping care for him, and absorbing what adoption looks like from the inside of a family. Those experiences quietly “bookmarked” her heart with a desire to one day welcome children through adoption herself. Years later, after she and her husband Jed married, adoption became part of the picture they imagined for their family. At the same time, Jed’s work in the White House under President George W. Bush intersected with leaders in foster care, adoption, and orphan care who were beginning to unite their efforts. Their shared vision—to “leave logos and egos at the door” and work together for vulnerable children—eventually became the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). As their own family pursued international adoption from Ethiopia, walked through the deep grief of losing a little girl they had been matched with, and later welcomed their daughter Eden, God was weaving together their personal story with Jed’s leadership at CAFO. Today, Rachel serves as Director of the Institute for Family Centered Healing and Health, helping equip families and churches with research-informed, biblically grounded resources for vulnerable kids.

Whole-Person Health: Mind, Body, Spirit & Relationships

Rachel began her career in physical therapy, where she saw firsthand how healing usually requires small, repetitive actions practiced over time. Patients who followed through on daily exercises made progress; those who didn’t, often stalled. That experience opened her eyes to something bigger: physical injuries were rarely disconnected from what was happening in a person’s mind, emotions, and relationships. Even when she could only treat the body, she could feel the weight of grief, anxiety, and relational strain in her patients’ lives. This led Rachel back to school to study psychology and neuroscience of mental health, with a special focus on children who face serious adversity. Her vision grew into a whole-person view of health:

• We are integrated beings—mind, body, spirit, and relationships all continually affect one another.
• If we attend only to one area (for example, the psychological) and ignore the body or the soul, our growth will be limited.
• True flourishing happens when we consider all of who God made us to be.

The Institute now works to curate and create resources that draw from both solid research and <strongrobust, deeply Christian theology, helping families and churches address:

• Children and teens navigating trauma, disability, or multiple diagnoses.
• Gaps in resources for older kids and young adults.
• Spiritual and moral formation alongside emotional and psychological care.

Small Daily Practices That Help Kids Thrive

Toward the end of the episode, Steve asks Rachel a very practical question: What are two or three small practices parents can start today to support their kids—especially in an increasingly virtual world? Rachel offers several key areas where simple, faithful habits make a big difference over time.

1. Live Within Reasonable Limits as a Family

Many American families are stretched thin—overscheduled, overcommitted, and constantly in motion. Families raising kids with disabilities, trauma histories, or complex needs often carry an extra layer of appointments, therapies, and supports. Rachel encourages parents to create room to simply be a family:

• Say “no” to some good things so you can say “yes” to the best things.
• Protect unhurried time together—meals, conversations, shared routines.
• Remember: your presence, your home, and your relationships are often more powerful than any single program or activity.

2. Invest in Your Marriage & Relationships at Home

Research consistently shows that a strong, healthy marriage positively impacts children’s outcomes. Prioritizing unity, shared decision-making, and a unified parenting approach can provide stability for kids, especially in hard seasons. Rachel notes that children thrive when they experience:

• Parents who are on the same team.
• Relational warmth alongside consistent boundaries.
• A home where they are loved, guided, and not left to carry adult burdens alone.

3. Practice Authoritative Parenting: Warmth & Firmness Together

Rachel and Steve highlight the value of authoritative parenting—high warmth and high firmness. Kids do best when they grow up in homes where:

• Love is expressed clearly and often.
• Structure, limits, and follow-through are consistent.
• Parents stay engaged rather than checking out or giving up.

This style of parenting is especially helpful for kids with trauma or complex needs, who often feel safest when expectations are clear and consistent, but delivered in an atmosphere of grace.

4. Guard Basic Habits of Physical Health

Simple things—often overlooked—have a profound impact on mental and emotional health:

• Regular, sufficient sleep.
• Nourishing food.
• Physical activity and time outdoors.
• Thoughtful limits on technology and screens, especially late at night.

When a child is up late on a device and wakes up tired, it will shape their mood, relationships, and ability to cope—even if the “problem” looks purely behavioral. The same is true for us as parents. Attending to these basics can quietly transform the climate of a home.

5. Lean into the Ways of God: Church & Forgiveness

One of the most striking parts of the conversation is Rachel’s summary of what research shows about Christian practices:

• Regular participation in a local church is linked with better mental health, lower depression, reduced suicide risk, stronger relationships, and even increased longevity.
• Practices like forgiveness are “exceptionally good” for human beings—shaping our emotional health, our relationships, and even our bodies.

Scripture calls us to forgive because God has forgiven us in Christ. Research is now catching up and showing that God’s commands are not arbitrary—they invite us into lives of deeper freedom and flourishing. These are acts of faith that often start small, but grow more powerful the more we practice them.

How Churches Can Walk with Foster, Adoptive & Disability Families

Steve shares a burden from his early years in practice: many Christian families were urged by their churches to foster or adopt— but when the realities of trauma, disability, and complex behavior showed up, those same families often felt abandoned. Rachel responds with both honesty and hope. She sees many encouraging models emerging, but also recognizes how much more is needed. Her counsel to churches begins very simply: Churches don’t have to launch a complex program to make a real difference. Often, the most powerful support looks like:

• Showing up with practical help (meals, rides, childcare, grocery runs).
• Forming prayer teams around specific families.
• Offering friendship, listening ears, and a willingness to learn.
• Creating an environment where families feel wanted—not merely tolerated.

Rachel shares a simple yet profound example: during a season when her family was fostering and she could hardly get out of the house, a woman from their church came every week for over a year, took her grocery list, and did all their shopping. No formal program—just one believer, seeing a need, quietly bearing burdens in Jesus’ name. At the same time, Rachel gently encourages families not to give up on the church too quickly, even when people are clumsy or uninformed about trauma and disability:

• It often takes humility to stay, especially when comments are insensitive or support is imperfect.
• But the long-term benefits of being rooted in a gospel-preaching church—for parents and kids—are immense.
• Persevering with God’s people, in all our messiness, can become a vital part of a family’s healing story.

In all of this, Rachel keeps bringing us back to the heart of the gospel: God calls His people to love, to forgive, to practice ordinary faithfulness, and to open our homes and churches to vulnerable children. And by His Spirit, He uses those ordinary acts to do extraordinary work.

Resources Mentioned

• Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) – including the Institute for Family Centered Healing and Health.
• Book: When There Is Crisis: A Handbook for Christian Foster and Adoptive Families Facing Serious Struggles by Rachel Medefind.
• Key Ministry & the Disability & the Church conference.
• Holt International – the adoption agency through which Rachel’s family adopted her younger brother.
• King’s College London – where Rachel completed her master’s degree in psychology and neuroscience of mental health.
• Research on church participation, mental health, and flourishing (referenced broadly in the conversation).
• Resources related to authoritative parenting, trauma-informed care, and whole-person health (curated by CAFO’s Institute).

About the Host & Guest

Dr. Steve Grcevich

Dr. Steve Grcevich is the President and Founder of Key Ministry, a ministry equipping churches to welcome and disciple individuals and families impacted by disability, mental health challenges, and trauma. A practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist, Steve combines clinical insight, research, and a deep love for the local church to help congregations create environments where every person can belong and grow in Christ.

Rachel Medefind

Rachel Medefind serves as the Director of the Institute for Family Centered Healing and Health at the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). She holds a master’s degree in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health from King’s College London, with a focus on children facing serious adversity. From early work in physical therapy to founding a classical Christian school and welcoming children through birth, adoption, and foster care, Rachel has devoted her life to helping young people heal and flourish in Christ-centered families and communities. She and her husband Jed live in Falls Church, Virginia.