Foster children growing up fast is a part of their reality. The life that most of these children have been forced to live has placed them into the adult role and a lot of cases the care giver to siblings and at times, biological parents. It is hard to imagine living day in and day out with the pain and hardship that these children have lived most of their lives with.

There is no choice when your are the oldest and there is no food in the house for your younger siblings. The child then becomes the provider by stealing food or any other means to care for their... more

There are two ways to go about having foster children placed into institutions. The first one, is the care team will make a decision in what is the best interest of the foster child and if the child needs to be placed into an institution. The decision is not one person’s to make. This type of placement is when the foster child is continuing to have major issues with no improvements and things may seem to worsen. Another reason for this type of placement is when the medications... more

It is so much easier to sit and pass judgment on others instead of working towards implementing change. In my next few posts I will be talking about reasons why foster children leave foster homes.

There is a stigma about foster parents when foster children are placed to an institution. Sometimes this view continues over with adoptive parents also. It is easier to blame the foster parents than to realize that the foster child is so damaged by what she has endured before she came into care.

It is not easy to think of these foster children in such a gloomy... more

Change of placement for foster children affects everyone in the foster home including the child herself, other foster children, foster parents and yes, the biological or adopted children. Without a doubt that moving foster children can and does in most cases causes long term damage. I think most people including foster parents realize that foster children are moved around way too much.

Then on the other hand some people go to the extreme on judging foster parents on the reasoning of foster children needing to be moved as below that was part of a comment on... more

A number of foster children come into foster care without a foster home to be placed into. This leads to a number of children, yes, even babies and toddlers being placed into shelters due to the lack of placements options. Shelters have a set number of days that a child can stay there, this can lead to foster children been bounced around shelters.

Shelters are just what they sound like, and the image that most of us picture is probably correct at least for the most part. They receive foster children of all ages, disabilities, ethnicity, etc. Children with... more

Yes, there are bad foster parents out there without a doubt just as there are bad biological parents, physicians, educators, dentist, etc. With saying that does not mean that every person in that typical category is good or bad for that fact.

Men teachers have taken advantage of young girls and even some boys for that matter, sexually, but that does not mean that all male teachers are perverts. My husband is a special educational teacher, and it would totally be wrong to assume that. Granted there are some parents and others that have this mentality, which... more

Should Biological and Foster Children Be Parented Together?

Where will the line been draw at? Who is to say what is believed to be acceptable parenting or even how families are made up? A lot of foster children that are adopted do go on to have problems some severe and others not so intense. There are situations where these children may act out against other adopted children in the home. Does this mean that parents should only adopt one child at a time?

A... more

There are several comments and emails that I will be answering or addressing in the next few days. One dialogue has been going on that I need to address, there are a number of different points that I will be replying to on a few different post, so please bear with me.

I will address the first statement below read more of the comment here:

I question the ability of any parent, while currently raising biological children–to bring foster children... more

This week has been a crazy and stressful week for me and my entire family. My mother had a massive heart attack leaving her too weak to endure open heart surgery. After a few days of building her lungs up she underwent a five bypass surgery to her heart (four were successful and one was not). This long ordeal and stressful time has reminded me how important it is for a foster parent to somewhat prepare for these life happenings.

It is easier for foster parents to adjust to daily life with foster children becoming part of the family than when major happenings... more

How did you know that you could handle what they send your way? This is a difficult question that I had to spend sometime thinking about. I do not think anyone knows for sure without a shadow of a doubt that they can handle anything that Child Welfare throws their way. It is not about being a super parent that knows all there is to know, and really, is there such a thing? Parenting whether through fostering and our own children it can be a daily learning experience.

Granted this is totally my opinion but here goes. It is more about being willing to learn... more