by Benjamin Konuch, Student Public Relations Writer
When Justin and Cheryl Martens decided to start caring for children in Florida’s foster care system, they never imagined how it would transform the children’s lives — or their own lives.
During a six-year period beginning in 2017, the Martens fostered 23 children and adopted one of them as part of their own family. This adoption eventually opened the door to a unique relationship with the child’s biological parents. Through the Martens’ remarkable impact in the lives that they encountered, they stress that their story is simply a result of humbly following God’s call into fostering.
“This isn’t a story about us; it’s about God.” said Justin. “We only did what He guided us to do, and every miracle came from Him and not anything we managed to do on our own.”
Just one day after being licensed to become foster parents, the Martens received a phone call that would change their lives. On September 17, they were asked to foster a child who was only a few days old, and while they had never planned on fostering infants, they believed this was God’s calling.
The infant girl, Arriyanna, came to their household later that day from the NICU where she was weaned off her drug-addicted birth just 19 days earlier. The Martens were advised to consider long-term fostering or adoption, as Arriyanna’s biological parents had a long history of drug use.
“We never started this with the goal of fostering to adopt,” said Cheryl. “But when we got our first child, who was only 19 days old, and were told that she might have no place else to go, that started to change our hearts.”
After fostering Arriyanna for seven months, Justin and Cheryl wanted to know more about her story. After long conversations and prayer, the Martens did what they believed God was calling them to do and made their first visit to the jail where Arriyanna’s biological father, Todd, was imprisoned. Their desire was to bring peace and encouragement to him, even though they didn’t know if he would be receptive to them. What resulted was the start of an ongoing relationship between Todd and the Martens family.
This relationship would become so valued that when Todd and his partner Amy terminated their parental rights, Todd asked the judge to allow Arriyanna to be adopted by the Martens. The judge agreed that they would be given the highest level of consideration, and in December of 2018, Arriyanna was adopted by the Martens. Now, the Martens had a decision to make that would profoundly impact their family, including Arriyanna.
“We could either pull away and raise Arriyanna away from her past, or we could keep the relationship with Todd going,” said Justin. “He was young. He really had no family to care for him and be there for him. Everyone else in his life seemed to have given up on him, and we felt the Lord telling us that we couldn’t turn our backs, no matter how hard it was.”
Over the next five years, the Martens became Todd’s main contact in jail. They were also his first phone call when released from prison. Upon his release, the family functioned as Todd’s place of support, often helping provide food, clothing, and even a room in their home for short periods of time. Throughout these years, Justin and Todd were able to form a unique friendship, and the Martens were a stabilizing factor as Todd worked to get his life in order, even with frequent drug relapses.
“There would be times where he would stay out of trouble for a few days, sometimes a few weeks or even a few months, before falling back into addiction,” said Justin. “From our perspective, having never faced his struggles, we couldn’t understand. But for him, having been on his own since he was 14 years old, this was all he knew.”
Throughout the years of the Martens’ care, Todd never took advantage of their kindness or the proximity to his biological daughter. He would help around the house and do whatever he could to try and pay back the kindness he was shown.
“If he ever went back to the wrong things, he would never steal from us or bring his struggles back to us or our house,” said Cheryl. “It always broke our hearts to see him fall back, but he never crossed any lines with the relationship we built. He would always look out for us because we looked out for him.”
This cycle of addiction started to change when Todd joined the Martens at a Christmas Eve church service. It was at this service that Todd committed his life to Jesus. Though the road to recovery continued to be hard, Todd had a new purpose within his struggles. When he was released from his longest incarceration in June of 2023 with nowhere else to turn, the Martens chose to welcome him back into their home.
This decision came with a consequence — it required the Martens to relinquish their fostering license. Still, the family knew this was the next step in their spiritual journey and what God was calling them to do.
“We have never been so sure that God was calling us to do something as we were with this decision,” said Cheryl.
With this opportunity, Todd was able to stand on solid ground and develop the motivation to fight for a better life. Through this time, he and Justin’s relationship blossomed into a special friendship — and now, both earnestly call each other their best friend.
Justin was even able to endorse Todd for a local job at a friend's landscaping company, which would prove to be the first step in gaining financial stability. Todd, sober for more than a year, reunited with Arriyanna’s biological mother, Amy, who has celebrated over five years of sobriety. They married in 2023 and are now raising their second daughter in a committed and loving environment. At least once a week, they stop by the house to catch up with the Martens, who have not only been supporters but dearly loved friends and family.
Through the process of fostering, the Martens gained a daughter and helped a struggling young man find Jesus and end the generational cycle of drug abuse. They also helped one of their daughters find a calling in service and follow in her father’s footsteps at Cedarville University, where Justin earned a degree in accounting in 1999. Ryleigh, who started attending Cedarville University shortly after Todd’s arrival, felt a desire to pursue a degree in social work after she witnessed how God used her parents in the lives of Arriyanna, Todd and so many little foster children.
“Fostering is the best thing we ever did as a family,” said Justin. “It has transformed our lives, given us a new daughter, provided us with dozens of children to care for and love, and it has given us a chance to speak into the lives of two people who have become some of our closest family friends. Fostering has been God’s way of using us to speak His grace into the lives of others.”
The hope of the Martens is that through their story, other families might hear the call to step up to serve through fostering as they did. Although no one could have anticipated the doors that their service opened, Justin and Cheryl wish for their story to be a testament to the power of faith and the value that fostering can have in transforming lives for those bold enough to answer its call.
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is a Baptist university with undergraduate programs in arts, sciences, and professional programs, and graduate programs. With an enrollment of 6,384 students in 175 areas of study, Cedarville is one of the largest private universities in Ohio and is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, and high graduation and retention rates. For more information about the University, visit cedarville.edu.
Footnote: Due to the sensitive personal nature of this story, some names in this news release have been replaced with pseudonyms in order to protect the privacy of the individuals.