Foster parents rejoice when a new child is placed in their home. With Mother’s Day approaching, a woman might feel especially blessed to have a new child placed in her home. After all, that is why they went through weeks of training and mounds of paperwork. Many foster parents have an ultimate goal of adoption and hope that a child will be able to stay forever. Initially, when a child arrives as an emergency placement no one is sure which direction the case will take. Will the child go home or will parental rights be terminated allowing the child to be adopted. The arrival... more

Closing the Door to 2007 – "The Good" I started talking about the good things that happened in 2007 that involved foster care, now I am moving to the not so good area.

The foster care system has been stretched to its limit this year. In Texas, foster children were left to sleep in Child Welfare offices, and later, to hotels rooms. Most states... more

Man did this year fly by and oh, what a year it has been. I have been writing here for a year now and what a great experience that continues to be. This short but busy year a lot has happened that involves foster care and also for me personally.

We will start with the good happenings and changes first. This country is slowly starting to realize when children are removed from their homes and become foster children that the responsibility should last past their 18th birthday. There are so many foster children that are aging... more

Foster Parents Dealing With Children Living in Limbo

Foster Parents Helping Children Living in Limbo

I fostered a little boy (five years old) for a little over a year he was mentally retarded and autistic. In your mind, picture the worst child and his behaviors, then magnify that times five that is probably close to what he was like.

He had so many issues... more

Foster Parents Dealing With Children Living in Limbo

These children are not concerned about therapy, counseling, or dealing with what is happening because in their mind foster care is just a short stay until they go back home. When children spend weeks then months believing any day they are going to walk out the foster home door to return home this does not benefit them to move forward in their life. The caseworkers make it sound like all the parents have to do is work their plan and the children return but the truth is most parents do not want to work the plan. At every visit, some... more

I am responding to a comment left here about what needs to happen with foster children and what foster parents need to be doing.

As soon as the foster child comes into care there is a service plan set up to address the child’s needs. The service plan covers a six month period. The first six month service plans is very basic because no one knows the kiddo and the biological parents are not too helpful in providing information. Mostly it will cover medical care, getting immunizations... more

A hot topic in the foster care circle is how long foster children are left to live in limbo with the hope their parents can get themselves together so they are able to parent their children. I think most of us can agree that a large number of issues (drugs, violence, relationships, mental issues, poverty, etc.) that these biological parents are facing, do not disappear overnight. But do we have the right to ask young children needing a family, structure, security, etc. to wait months and even years in the hopes that their biological parents will step up to the plate and do what... more

Foster Children Living Years in the System

I had a case of a baby that the biological parents were asked about family members at each visit, they responded there was not anyone, but after a year when the termination of parental rights went to court they start throwing names of cousins, sister, aunts, etc that could be an option for the baby. Funny thing is, I do not think these family members appeared overnight.

What made it okay for this baby... more

There is an article about a 12 year old foster boy that has spent nine years living in foster care trapped in the system with no hope for a forever home. After nine years in foster care he was placed into an adoptive placement with members of his birth family. Sadly the adoptive placement fell apart and the boy was returned to foster care.

This case brings up a lot of issues of how things could have been different in this case and how to keep other foster children... more

A 21 month old baby girl named, Hailey lay dying a slow horrible death in her on home while her mother and mom’s boyfriend were at the residence. Hailey spent 5 hours in what must have been horrible pain dying slowly. This baby girl, not even two years old lay foaming at the mouth, wheezing while fighting to breath. Her tiny body was fighting to live while her little arms and legs were twitching. This precious baby’s life was lost two days later when she was removed from life support.

Once... more