We get asked quite often "what do you have to do to do foster parenting?" LOL. It's a legitimate question, but it would take days/weeks to explain all that we have to do. This post is a list of the physical preparations that we had to get ready for an unknown # of kids. (We're licensed for 6 kids, ages 0-12 at this time)
Jeff and I recently counted, and realized we've had 16 kids through our home,
and all but 3 have been in the last 5 months! At first getting kids was difficult, and awkward, and stressful. Now, it seems it is getting easier. We are more confident in our parenting, and we have a routine. Thanks to so many generous people, we have a variety of extra clothings of multiple sizes (that I finally got organized into neat, labeled tubs) that we have been using each time we get a child, or a sibling group. We have taken in several sibling groups of three. The oldest child we've had has been 8, which tells you we have had a lot of young, energetic kids here! We love that we are blessed to live out in the country, with a 600 acre 'yard' that we can let these kids run around and get their energy out. We just recently took in a 15 month old (the youngest we've taken so far). She came to us at 2 am, and was very sick. Poor thing had pneumonia and an ear infection! We still have her, and have been enjoying her cute toothy smile =) Lately, quite a few people have been asking us how we do it, and how we handle new kids all the time. My initial thought to those questions is "only by the grace of God!" lol. Sometimes it is so exhausting and stressful, that surviving each day truly feels like a miracle. But when thinking about tangible examples of what that makes things go smoothly here, these are my thoughts. The other day, someone at work asked me how many kids I had. Here was my
response: "Today, we have 3, tomorrow we're supposed to have 6, last week we had 6, the week before that we were back down to 3, and the weekend before that we had 5." The look I got was a common one: a mix between electroshock therapy and the cat got their tongue....I soon followed up with "We're foster parents." The other question I often get is, "How old are your kids?" The answer ranges so much that it sounds like I'm calling out a bingo game. Here are some examples 2-3-4-6-6-8, or 2-3-4-4-6-6, or 2-3-4-5-6. People always seem to think I'm joking. Currently we have 6 kiddos, 3 of which we have had a year now. It's been an adventure learning to deal with the state and all the visits and all the rules and all the chaos...but it makes it worthwhile when we look at the kids and know that they are being loved, cared for, nurtured, supported, etc.... |
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