A New Journey into Foster Care

Before

(Look how happy we are, one year ago, New Year's Day 2011!)

I call this picture "Before" because this is before my family agreed to embark upon the journey of becoming a foster care family. We are ready now. I know life is going to change a lot in the next year, and I have no idea exactly what changes will come our way. What we do know is that we must share what we have with a child and his parents who are struggling.

Sometimes the first question I get from someone else about doing this is "How will you be able to give the child up once you have her/him in your home?" 

I do think about that, but we are really doing this to help a family in crisis. So hopefully, if the family is ready to be reunited, we will be happy to see the crisis managed and overcome. At the same time, it would be hard to have a child move on, especially if my family grew attached to the child. But missing them would also feel good because that would mean we have made a connection and we would know we served a purpose in helping a family through a tough time. The reality that my family will be challenged by doing this is not a good enough reason for us to shy away from becoming a foster care home.

Even though I am a new prospective foster parent, I have been working as a child welfare professional in foster care and adoption, both as a licensed social worker (since 1990) and as an attorney (since 2005). In this blog I plan to share my family's journey, answer people's questions, and offer some practical information about the foster care process and system.