The stress of foster care affects the entire family and can start to put a strain on your marriage before you know it. I am speaking from my experiences and other foster parents I know, while I do understand this does not reflect every foster parent.

As the foster mom, you handle most aspects of foster care which is an enormous responsibility. When the call comes in about a new foster placement you are the one that makes that decision. It is you that sits in an ARD or teacher conference telling you all of the problems with this foster child that you have already discussed numerous times. This time they want to know what you as the parent are doing about the situation. As the stress continues to mount on you with the doctor appointments, therapy - counseling appointments, paperwork, caseworkers, school issues, behavior issues, extracurricular activities, etc this is just concerning your foster children. Oh, then you have your every day life things to handle and then all of your children's things. Don’t forget some of our own children have special needs that you are also caring for? Then drop a couple of difficult foster children in the mix with major behaviors and some playing parents off of each other. Then you have complete turmoil.

How could I almost forget dealing with the biological parents of your foster children? Some foster children face major issues dealing with these visits due the abuse they have endured, the parents not being truthful to the children about how long they will be in care, not even showing up for visits, and in a few cases, the stress of being away from their parents. The anger the foster children cannot direct towards the foster care system and their biological parents is placed on the foster parents. Then place the rage and hatred that some biological parents direct to the foster parents because they can only see us as the person keeping them away from their children.

Continued.........

For information/instructions on how to subscribe FREE to your favorite AdoptionBlogs, please visit this link.

More reading:

Taking Responsibility - Inside a Foster Home

Laws Helping or Hurting Foster Care