Foster families face many challenges
When Sharon and Bob Johnson decided to adopt one more child, they never dreamed they'd end up with Kylie, a 9-month-old who came to them through the state's foster care program.
Their dream to give their first child, Aimee, now 8, who they adopted from Romania in 2002, a sister was realized when they finalized Kylie's adoption Oct. 21.
Note: Get this...
Until that moment, Sharon worried they would lose the baby girl to a birth parent or family relative who could have come forward and taken custody while she was in foster care.
Note: I've said it before, I'll say it again. Foster parents want your children.
"She also wanted to protect Aimee from the disappointment of losing her new sister and told her, "It's our job to love her and take care of her because her birth mother can't do it right now.""
ReplyDeleteYeah, the birth mother can't take care of her RIGHT NOW, because foster care is supposed to be like long-term babysitting. Of course you'll get attached to the children, but there is a middle ground between raising them as your own and losing them forever. Kids aren't things that you must OWN, they are people who should be allowed to maintain healthy, safe relationships with all the people they care about, regardless of who they live with.
It's annoying when the foster parents whine about money, when poverty is such a big factor in most kids being in foster care in the first place. Some foster parents act like it's a competition to see who deserves the child more, as if being able to buy the kid more stuff proves they're better parents, as if the real parents wouldn't do the same if they had the cash.