The year can bring different foster children with some many different needs for a foster mom to care for and love. A foster mom steps up to parent the children that have been abused, neglected by their biological families and forgotten by society. She endures the hatred, anger and aggression that may come from a foster child, because she is the one in the maternal role. She did not cause the pain the foster child is dealing with, but she is the one dealing with the effects.

If the time should come when foster children learn they will not be returning home and that they will be placed up for adoption, it is the foster mom who is there. She will be the one to hold and love the crying foster children that learn their lives will never be the same. She helps them see hope for the future and want a forever family.

For the foster mom, it does not matter if the child is with her a few days or a few years, there is a place in her heart for that child. The ones that caused her great heartaches even have a place in her heart. The love of a foster mom is to let go of the child that she has come to love when it is time for the foster child to leave knowing mostly likely she will never know what becomes of the children she called her son or daughter.

Foster moms rarely hear "thank you" or a kind word from the children they have cared for, biological parents, caseworkers, or society. It is so easily forgotten that foster moms are the ones caring for the foster child that the world has pushed aside to be forgotten.

I encourage everyone that knows a foster mom to take the time and tell her that you appreciate the impact that she having on the foster children that come into her life.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. A special thank you to foster moms that make a difference in so many children's lives.