So as we have blasted everywhere and I'm sure you have seen, Ryan and I are going to be foster parents!! We know this will be a wild journey, but we also know that it will bless our lives immensely.
We have had a lot of questions already that we haven't been sure how to answer, so I decided to get back into my blog and work through some of them! We want to be very open about our process and share our story with everyone in hopes that it might encourage others to step out in faith into a life that they are scared to go after! So... here goes.
Aren't you scared about how hard it will when kids leave?
Yes. Of course we are. We are terrified. However, we found this quote that we just fell in LOVE with when we were seriously talking about whether or not we could handle it: "We are not afraid to grieve, we are afraid of what will happen to these children if no one takes the risk to love them."
Why are you doing foster and not adoption? / Are you going to adopt the kids you foster?
Our goal is to eventually adopt, However, right now we feel called to foster. There is a HUGE need for foster homes and these kids need families - even if they are only short-term. After spending 7 years seeing kids coming in and out of court, reading court reports of kids moving from one group home to another, the desire to be a foster parent grew and grew. While working at CASA it was a conflict of interest for us to be a foster home, but once I left and came to United Way, we knew it was time.
When do you get your baby? / There are older kid shoes... what age kids are you getting?
The easiest ages to place (surprise, surprise) are under 3. There is a drop in homes again around age 7 and another at age 12. It is nearly impossible to find a foster home for an over 12 year old. It is also harder to find homes for non-Caucasian kids (for a multitude of reasons) - leaving the hardest to place group being over-12, non-Caucasian males and / or older sibling groups. Because when we do something we go all out, our hearts were drawn to request the hardest to place kids. At any given time this could be different meaning that our placement could be almost any age / gender / race or number of children. So, we are approved for 3 children and an infant! We are also approved for up to a level 3 - which speaks to the amount of home changes, behaviors, or abuse endured. We feel that no kid is a "bad" kid and that all of them deserve to be loved and have stability. Yes, I realize that we sound "naive" - we do know it will be hard. We do know we will likely be tested and pushed and want to give up, however, we believe we are equipped through faith that this is our calling and next step as a family.
We are overwhelmed with the love and support we have been shown so far in this journey. We are SO EXCITED that our first placement arrives April 8th!!! Yes, we will share more information when he moves in (and yes, we have been through extensive different training opportunities on what we are / are not allowed to share and what is appropriate / not appropriate to share). Yes, we will need HELP but no, I don't know what with yet - there are a lot of resources and emergency needs we will be calling on our support system for! Until then, we are asking for prayers for our teenage sweet son and the multitudes of children who will (hopefully) follow him in coming into our home for a season and staying in our hearts forever.
Thank you for being our friends and family and supporting us in this adventure!!
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