Letters from a Foster Mum.... Two years and counting

Dear Friends

It's hard to believe it's been over two years since I received the call asking us to take in a little brother & sister who desperately needed a permanent placement.  That call changed not just my life, but that of our whole family.

Taking in a permanent placement has been one of the most difficult, yet rewarding things we have ever done.  When we decided to pursue foster care as our response to the orphan crisis, we honestly had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Yet here we are well over two years down the track (since their placement) & those little ones are quickly growing.  They have fully meshed into our family & it seems quite natural to say we have 6 children without any kind of explanation.  Because we DO have six children & we DON'T owe anyone an explanation about how our family is made up.  

Foster care has changed me.  I feel like I am both weaker & stronger because of it.  I am weaker because I have to rely on God for His strength each & every second of the day.  The behaviors we have had to deal with are so very different to anything our biological children had.  The turbulent emotional journeys these children have to work through are hard & supporting them can be very tiring.  Yet, God is good & He has always given us the strength we need & provided the support to envelope us at exactly the right times.


So would we do it again??  Yes.  We are living proof that providing permanency in a placement is key to these precious children living a stable life.  To be honest, it takes a while for real love to come & when children are shipped through placement to placement, there is no way that they would experience that ' I will die for you' type of love that a mother has for her children.  It was about 18 months into our placement that I realized that  that was how I felt for these children.  They are fully & completely children of my heart even though they  may never be able to share our last name (although we are praying).  Every child deserves to be loved in this way.  Every child deserves to know where they are going home to & who will be there.  They deserve to live in a home that is safe, where they are treasured.  Sadly that is not a reality for too many children within the foster care system.

And so as we embark on this new adventure, moving away from all that is familiar, we are humbly honored to have been trusted to continue as carers for these precious bonus members of our family.  When we first considered moving we made the decision that we wouldn't pursue it unless they could move with us and we know that we had some awesome agency staff who went above & beyond to ensure this was able to happen.   I cannot guarantee tomorrow, I cannot say that this placement will continue forever for we don't know the future, but what I can say is that these two children will forever be mine, will forever carry around a piece of my heart & they know that they are fully & completely loved!

Blessings to you today