Foster care is definitely different than most people might expect. It is not a job, it is a “calling”, a “mission in life” like no other.
Children come into your home with trauma from their past like one could never imagine and yet they are willing to keep trying and never give up. They learn to laugh for maybe the first time in their lives, they learn to trust and express themselves, make mistakes and grow from them. They learn to give back and build their self-esteem.
Being a foster parent takes courage, commitment, a sense of humor, a forgiving and renewable spirit. It takes conviction to stand up to those that might criticize what you do and how you parent. It takes understanding to not only teach these children a better way, but also be willing to learn from them. They have so much to teach and share.
A foster parent uses every resource available to help their foster children, you become a part of a network, A TEAM. Your foster care licensing agency, like Pillar & Vine, understands and connects with you and your children, supports you, guides and listens to you, and teaches you the best of foster parenting. Our on-going training teaches us new and better ways of working with our children, we have law enforcement to protect us and our children, a school district willing to work daily to provide the best education for our children. Our social workers work tirelessly to back our decisions in parenting and understand our children like no other. A community that supports our children and gives them volunteer opportunities to build their self-esteem and churches that welcome them no matter what their life journey.
For us as foster parents, there is no reward like having your foster child successfully reunify and when it’s safe return home to biological family “whenever possible” or move on to an adoptive home.
Foster care is like no other, it is rewarding and timeless, when your foster child returns with his wife and children and says to his wife “I’d like to introduce you to my foster parents who taught me what it meant to be ‘family’.”
-Pillar & Vine foster parents