Some people may not think this is necessarily a holiday that foster children will react to, but that is not the case with most foster children. We have what I believe to be the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with a large amount of food (with lots of leftovers) and your extended family sharing the holiday with you. Foster children have always been surprised when we have Thanksgiving at our house, or at family members home.

They do not understand why I am preparing that much food. One foster son we had continually asked, “When are the other people going to get here?” After... more

Holidays are a time of celebration, family time together, and happiness. In foster homes holidays are all of these things, but also a time of stress, behaviors, acting out, sorrow, sadness, confusion, and an overall insecurity of everything. While I do realize most people to do not understand this in the slightest, it is just how things are. We have to find ways to make difficult situations easier and helping these foster children cope.

“Holidays are suppose to be fun”, is sometime I hear more than I would like too. Believe me; I do not want to be dealing with issues... more

In celebration of National Adoption Month and how important it is for foster care, I will be giving away a copy of the new book, “Forever Fingerprints” by Sherrie Eldridge. I purchased this book for my children and loved the book. So, I brought an extra copy to give away here in honor of the importance of this month to foster families that continue parenting children waiting to be adopted.

I am asking readers to share why they chose to be foster parents and continue doing it below. If you have chosen... more

Adopting Through Foster Care

By the time this beautiful girl was available for adoption we realized that parenting her was a huge undertaking and at times could be quite challenging. When the label of Reactive Attachment Disorder was placed on her I was a little thrown, but I had the attitude; “Okay, we will deal with it.”

Then there were the therapists, doctors, caseworkers, etc. painting this bleak picture that she may never bond with anyone and as she grows older she may struggle... more

When you are a foster parent you never know about the foster children that will come into your home. Some children capture your heart from the moment they walk through your door. The moment I saw my baby girl and held her in my arms, she had me. She was far from the ideal baby but that did not matter to me.

She was 13 months old when she came into our lives. She was unable to hold her head up or anything else because she had no muscle tone. She was still only taking a bottle with formula and spent her life in a crib with a flat head to prove it. Being held, cuddled, and loved was not something this baby girl had experienced in her short life. Any time she experienced human contact... more

With this being National Adoption Month in the hopes to have more foster children find adoptive homes I will be doing a few posts on adoption. While there are a number of images of foster children waiting to be adopted and hard struggles that adoptive parents face with adopting foster children for the most part of the images are negative. The truth is that a lot of the foster children waiting to be adopted do have serious issues from medical condition, behaviors, and serious mental... more

A comment left here got me to thinking about peoples’ thoughts and opinions on foster homes. On one hand it is believed that foster children should be treated as the foster parents own children are. Then before you know it you are told things should be different for foster children, and at times, different with each foster child. This has left me believing that most people (including biological parents) do not begin to understand or have a clear picture of how things should... more

A favorite thing around our house when the weather turns cool, we drink hot chocolate together. The cool weather is here, time for the hot chocolate to come out and for a little relaxing at the end of the day. When the weather starts to turn cool, my children start asking, “Is it time for hot chocolate?” Every foster child that was been in our home and experienced a cup of hot chocolate love it. I love to watch a foster child’s face when she has not experienced hot chocolate before.

It is great to have everyone sit around in the evening talking about school, our plans... more

November is a busy and important month for foster care agencies because of National Adoption Day. Caseworkers are scrambling to finish up any paperwork for their upcoming adoptions. They are trying to move all cases that are being finalized on National Adoption Day to an adoption placement. This can be an almost impossible time to reach a caseworker or other child welfare personal. I am adopting on this day and I am still having issues tracking down caseworkers and other workers concerning my adoption.

While the child... more

Foster Care Terms A - C

Foster Care Terms D - I

Judicial Review: When the progress of the parents and the child is reviewed by the court to decide the safest place for the child to live. Within 12 - 18 months of the child entering foster care there must be a Judicial Review.

Juvenile Court: Is a district court system that only handles matters that affect children under the age of 18.

Life Book: Kind of like a baby book that geared towards older... more