Having been a foster parent for several years has given me much pleasure and so many rewards. It has also humbled me, when I see a child struggling so hard to find their path in life and reaching to me, as a foster parent, for the help that will give them direction.

I, too, was in foster care as a child and found a long-term home with a very loving family who eventually adopted me. Thus began a wonderful 40-year parent/child relationship.

So, maybe I was destined to become a foster parent because something deep inside of me has always wanted to parent children, whether they are my own or foster children.

I feel this may have come from having a nurturing, stable, loving adoptive family that took me as their own when I was lost on life’s path. I began fostering in the 1990’s and eventually came to foster with WAYS. 

Fostering has not been without its’ trials and tribulations, but there is nothing more rewarding than to have a child come to you with a smile and a hug, just because they are happy.

I’ve always said that the children give us more than we ever will give them. Just to see them grow and be happy is reward enough.

As life is about changes, there have been many throughout our fostering years. Many children have come and gone, yet some have never really gone because we continue to get phone calls from them from time to time.

Throughout it all, something remains constant and has never changed, at least for me: Fostering – challenges FEW, rewards MANY.