Struggling With The Foster Care System

At times trying to deal with stress and issues which comes along with being a foster parent or adopting from foster care can seem like a lot to bear. On occasion, it is natural to wonder why we as foster parents keep enduring all the headaches and stress of dealing with Child Welfare being a daily part of our lives.

If my family had given up when we suffered our first heartbreak in foster care we would not have our other three children that we adopted from foster care. My family has been blessed with the amazing gift of three beautiful children from foster care and the struggles, headaches, heartbreaks; issues that we have faced along the way have been worth it. Even if we had to start everything over again with our newly adopted daughter, I would do it in a heart beat.

Without foster parents to endure all the “stuff” that goes along with being a foster parents, the children we help would be left without homes. More children would be spending holidays and even chunks of their childhood living in shelters. We keep doing it because we cannot imagine our foster children anywhere else but our homes and especially not in shelters where they would end up without foster homes.

Sometimes we have to take a step back and remember why we started fostering. We get lost in the stress of being a foster parent and lose sight of our life and the good we do for these children in their most desperate time of need. In a lot of cases the truth is that for a lot of foster children their foster parents have been the most consistent thing in their life. To the foster care system that child is just one more child of thousands that is in need of care but to most foster parents we see the child as an individual and want what is best for him or her.

As I was always told growing up, “The best things in life do not come easy but are worth fighting for.” I think this is very true and accurate when talking about foster care and adoption and even parenting for that matter.

We have to find a way that works for each individual person to make it through their stress and also find ways to limit it if possible. I will be addressing this in the near future.

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