Becoming a Foster Parent, Page 2

There are many reasons you may not want, or be able, to become a foster parent. Even those with the best intentions have found the demands to be heartbreaking or too disrupting to their households.

Sheri and Bob were foster parents to children from infants to 18 and found that while it was a rewarding experience, it wasn't something they would choose again. Jim and Kelly, a couple who tried foster parenting two young brothers in California, say in their article The Perils of Foster Parenting:

Although we enthusiastically attended every meeting, class and seminar required for foster parenting, we were never warned of the dreadful situations that may occur while caring for these troubled but precious children.

Interested?

If you are aware of the potential difficulties as well as the enormous rewards and think foster parenting is for you, contact your state Foster Care Specialist (or equivalent) to learn about training classes, and other licensing procedures. And read a treatment foster parent's great article on Treatment Foster Parenting.

A word about adoption

According to statistics, 64% of chidren adopted from foster care are adopted by former foster parents. Many approach foster parenting as the first step toward adoption. While foster parents are sometimes the first choice when a child in their care becomes available for adoption, it is wise to listen to the words of an experienced foster parent:

There are children that will in fact come to your home and have no one and if you would like to adopt a child like this, wonderful. But, many if not most of these children have families and the objective is to find a safe healthy place within these families for them to live. Don't try and keep a child that is wanted. Save that space and that place in your heart and home for that child that has no one and, believe me, they are out there.

© Nancy S Ashe

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