OTTAWA – The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has warned an Ontario child services agency it could face legal action for discriminating against a Christian couple.

SomethingöÏÓãÊÓƵapp topsy-turvy when a Canadian Christian couple must go to court to clear their names because they refused to lie on the StateöÏÓãÊÓƵapp orders.

WASHINGTON – Charles Mully has had an incredible life story. And he's not finished yet.

The Kenyan-born Mully, 68, was abandoned by his family when he was 6 years old. For a decade, he scratched out a living for himself. At age 16, he encountered Christ in a personal way and later became a successful businessman, but he ditched it all to establish the Mully Children's Family, a home to shelter kids who had been abandoned like he once had been.

TORONTO - ThereöÏÓãÊÓƵapp no map to guide foster kids from life in the system to life in the world. But Catholic ChildrenöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Aid Society of Toronto and Covenant House think the Ontario government could learn from their experience leading kids through one of the most difficult passages in life.

A report written by foster kids themselves — My Real Life Book based on more than 200 submissions from youth in care — is challenging OntarioöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Ministry of Children and Youth öÏÓãÊÓƵapp to do better for the provinceöÏÓãÊÓƵapp 8,300 crown wards. Crown wards are in the permanent care of the state in foster or group homes. Another 8,500 kids per year pass through the child welfare system in temporary care.

TORONTO - The idea of family can take on any number of connotations. One might think that the most immediate understanding of the word is filled with thoughts of our biological relatives.

However, for some families, the meaning is a much more fluid one, as parents take on the challenge of providing for children in our society who are in need.

Kim O’Neill has been a foster parent for two years and with her husband Mike provides for two brothers, ages six and seven, in their Whitby, Ont., home. After some encouragement from another foster parent in the area, the couple decided to restart their lives as parents after their own biological children had grown up and left the nest.

TORONTO - The long-standing shortage of Catholic foster parents in Toronto isn’t getting any better. The Catholic ChildrenöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Aid Society of Toronto has 297 foster care spots available on its own roster. This year it has had to rely on 412 out-of-town spots it purchases from private contractors.

Out-of-town care costs a lot more and it removes kids from their school, their circle of friends and family — everything that can help maintain their sense of belonging. Trouble is, there aren’t a lot of couples like Nellie and Bernie Desroches left in the city. And it is likely there will be fewer in the future.