I Have a Secret: The Girls
I have a secret but I have decided that maybe writing about it or rather them, will help me work it out. I was researching something on the internet and honestly, I don’t even remember what it was. Somehow I ended up on Adoption.com’s photolisting of children available for adoption.
I was browsing through the kids in my state and reading their stories. I clicked on Next and there they were; my girls. I guess I should say the girls but I have read their profile and looked at their pictures so often that I have really begun to feel like they are mine. It was their pictures that started me on this journey back into foster parenting.
I have been telling myself over and over again that I don’t think I could handle two twin girls with severe developmental issues by myself. I have researched autism as if they don’t have autism, the description is of something remarkably similar. I have told myself that I am too old, too ADD, too….
I don’t seem to be listening. I did decide that I wanted to go back into foster parenting. Dreaming about the girls made me realize that children is what is missing in my life. I started looking into foster care and I quit going out to adoption.com to look at their profile.
I have never felt like God was sending me a message before so this is kind of new to me. I decided that it was about foster care and so I explored it and ended up back in training. Apparently that is not enough because I was researching foster care laws in my state and ended up on Adoptuskids.org and who was staring at me off the screen but my two girls.
I still don’t think I can handle them alone. I still think I am too old to give them the kind of lifelong committment they may need. I sent in a request through adopt us kids last week. They sent me a list of Social Service agencies in my state and said get a homestudy. Ok, yes, I knew they were going to say this. My hope was that they would send me the agency who had the girls so I could get more information.
Today I sent an email to my contact at the Department of Social Services. I asked if she could find out any information on the girls. I have talked to her a couple of times about foster care and really got along well with her. So I guess now I will wait and see.
I would really like to find out more about their challenges. I’d like to see if I might be able to handle it. I’d like to reach out and hug them. Regardless of what happens, I will always think of them as my girls even if I never meet them. They hold a place in my heart and they have already made a difference in my life.
Filed under General | Comments (4)It’s Worse Than Being Pregnant
Now that I have made the decision to have children again, the waiting is killing me. It’s only been a little over a month and I am already champing at the bit. I think that the reason I started this blog was to give myself something productive to do while I finish training, homestudy, etc.
So many questions are going through my mind. Will it be a girl or a boy? I don’t really have a preference as I had 2 of each of my own. How old will they be? Should I start getting toys for younger children or stocking up on games for an older child? At least when you are pregnant, you know it is going to be a BABY!
I have started collecting furniture for the kids rooms. I have to go pick up 2 beds that someone gave me from the Freecycle list. Then I just need dressers for one room and I will be set. I don’t want to go too crazy as I am sure that my son or daughter will want to have some say over their room decorations but at the same time, I want it to be welcoming and cozy.
When you are pregnant, you may question whether you will be a good parent but you don’t usually have to worry about whether the baby will like you. Do the children realize that we worry as much about whether they will like us and our home as they do? Do other foster parents worry about whether the kids will like you or is it just me?
Yes, I am all a twitter today. I am not good at waiting, I want to DO SOMETHING! I have been searching out foster care and adoption blogs and I thought I would share some of them. I post these with a word of warning, if you are the least bit interested, you cannot read just one post. I find myself reading for HOURS.
Never A Dull Moment — With 12 kids in the house, I can easily believe that there is never a dull moment. This will give you some insight into being a foster parent.
Adopting Through Foster Care a wonderful, sad, happy blog that tells the story of two moms and their foster daughter Niblet. This one will break your heart but it also gives you a good idea of what it’s like to work “in the system.”
I am going to close with that as I just spent over an hour reading. I need sleep…
Filed under General | Comment (1)My Chosen Children
After having raised my four biological children to adulthood or near adulthood, I have decided to open both my home and my heart to foster children. The name of this site is My Chosen Children to honor them. I did not have much choice in my bio children but we do get to choose our foster children.
Although I have done therapeutic foster care in the past, I am currently retaking the PRIDE training. It is so much more meaningful after having experienced being a foster parent in the past. It is training that I wish all parents went through before having children, perhaps there would be less foster children in the world. My articles are not meant in any way to replace training but rather to enhance it.
Foster care is one of the most challenging and most rewarding life choices that you can make. The children are in foster care through no fault of their own and need loving adults to make a positive impact on their lives.
If you have considered foster care in the past, I encourage you to explore it further. If you do not feel like you are in a position to do so now, there are so many ways that you can help the children without committing to be a foster parent.
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