They find themselves having to grow up overnight and becoming a parent while their peers are still experiencing their teen years. This is part of being a teen parent. They have so much growing up to do in a short time and so much to learn.

Learning household responsibilities is a very important step in this process. Learning how to cook will be a necessity since they will most likely not have the extra monies for fast food and eating out. Along with cooking comes, food safety (how long to keep food before it ruins, how long to cook things, cleaning and preparing food), shopping while staying on a budget, cleaning, etc. Learning how to do laundry and other household cleaning... more

Every foster child will deal with abuse in very different ways. Abuse overshadows so much of a child’s life that some adults probably do not realize. As adults we struggle to wrap our minds around the abuse that a child has spent his entire life living with. These children learn early that adults in their lives have the power to hurt them and do unspeakable things to them (sometimes in the name of love).

These children lose so much of their innocence, being able to trust the people that are suppose to protect them. In some cases, nighttime is not for dreams; it is when the... more

It is the time of year for room mother involvement, field trips, parties, etc that take place in the school. What does that have to do with foster care? Well, it should have a lot to do with it since you are the acting parent for your foster children. This is an area that foster parents tend to overlook or maybe outright ignore.

My husband is a special education teacher and a few years back I also worked with special ed. students. We both have also worked or had knowledge of foster parents in the school we worked with and have been very surprised how many foster parents do... more

From time to time a foster home may be placed inactive or on hold. This means that for a period of time that the foster home is not open to new foster placements. This does not mean that if you have foster children already living in your home that they will be moved.

Any time foster families can choose to place their home on hold just to allow themselves to take a break from fostering. The truth is that we all need breaks from time to time so this is not a bad thing. One thing you may want to check on before placing your home on hold is how this affects your status and what you will need to do to start fostering again when you are ready.

With my agency, if your home... more

While preparing for the long awaited adoption of our baby girl I find my thoughts turning towards her birth parents. While her birth father was not involved much in her life and was not an active parent with visitation with his daughter, he had definite anger and violence issues. Her birth mother is a complete mess and lives a very sad life of sex, drugs, violence, etc that has cost her all of her children. The heartbreak of the situation is that her birth mother continues to her life of destruction. I had hoped that that the reality of her losing this precious baby after losing two others... more

Today, we got our National Adoption Day packet for our adoption, so we are very excited. This year we will be spending National Adoption Day with other families (like a couple of hundred) with the great honor of adopting a child and parenting through adoption.

This is a big day in foster care. A number of foster children are adopted on this day as a true celebration instead of the traditional legal courthouse. In most cases, for foster children that are adopted on this day, the legal services are provided pro bono, which is a great blessing for foster parents. You will still... more

Abuse is a major component of the foster care system. The abuse that some of these suffer will be carried with them throughout their lives. While other foster children manage to work through the trauma of their abuse, some children have been so severely damaged by the abuse they endured. They may never recover, or spend their lives struggling with major issues.

When I first became a foster parent, I could not understand how or even why caseworkers, therapist, etc. did not know what abuse the child suffered or to the extent of the abuse. It is common after accepting a foster... more

This can be quite a mix for dealing with behaviors. A large number of foster children do not have the traditional Halloween with customs, pumpkins, and trick or treat. Young foster children that I have parented were very confused, scared and unsure of everything. While I think they somewhat enjoyed the experience but they were withdrawal and quite.

A few children only went to a few houses to trick or treat then went home with me to hand out candy while my husband took the other ones on. The realty is that some children have great difficulties with the whole experience and it... more

Survival Skills with Your Foster Children – Stealing

I believe stealing is one of the hardest habits to break. I have made improvements with foster children over time with stealing, but it is still there. While I do understand that for the most part their stealing is a learned behavior or that they had to steal food for survival, it is something that foster parents should not overlook.

This is a criminal behavior that the foster child must learn is wrong... more

This is something that is somewhat common in foster care. Stealing is taking anything that does not belong to you (in my opinion). I personally have dealt with this a lot in foster care. In my house in no way is stealing excused even with a foster child. If you steal anything you will face and accept the consequences in my home.

Children coming into foster care can be stealing for any number of reasons. I had one teen boy that was put in the position to steal food and then in time there was not a limit to what he would steal. His biological mother started stealing things to... more