Articles from Tamara's Adoption Mama Blog here:
Today’s guest post was written by Erin, a fellow adoption blogger who blogs about all things foster care, adoption & parenthood at No Bohns About It. As I read the first paragraph all I could do was think “We are SO similar”! I hope you too can relate to her story and if not relate perhaps be inspired.
A Story of Foster Care and Adoption
Ever since I was a small child I always knew I would adopt. I remember at 6 seeing the movie Oliver & Company and crying so hard during the opening scene that my mother had to turn the movie off. I remember at 8 driving in the car with my father and announcing I would adopt an older child when I grew up so I wouldn’t have to deal with baby spit up and dirty diapers. I remember at 12 picking up a pamphlet on becoming a foster parent and trying to talk my parents into giving it a try. I just always knew that adoption was the option for me.
Thankfully my college boyfriend (now husband) felt the same way. The first major life event that we experienced together was becoming foster parents. I think a lot of people in our lives were surprised that this was a path that two unmarried, recent college graduates wanted to pursue. Relatives told us to focus on our careers. Friends couldn’t understand why we planned to spend our time hanging out with other people’s kids when we could be hanging out at a party. Almost everyone seemed to think that being foster parents was something we shouldn’t be doing. But for us, it felt like the right time.
Although we decided to be foster parents at a fairly young age, we didn’t plan to adopt until later. There are nearly 400,000 children in the US foster care system, and when we first started fostering we simply planned to provide a temporary home for a few of these children. We figured after the child’s birth parents completed their case plan, the child would be reunified, we would foster another child, and the cycle would continue. Our first foster placement was a brother and sister set. Ages 3 and 1.
Some days were tough as they got used to suddenly being dropped into our house, and we got used to suddenly having two children. But they stole our hearts pretty quickly. Before we knew it, we had fallen in love (baby spit up and dirty diapers included).
After a year with us Child Protective Services changed the goal for our children’s case from reunification with their birth family, to adoption. Although we had only planned to provide a temporary home for children as foster parents, we felt like a family. I had thought my whole life that I would adopt someday, and I had been right. A few years later we finalized our children’s adoption.
With over 100,000 children available for adoption through the US foster care system, I hope this is an option that others will consider. People tend to have a lot of misconceptions about adopting through foster care. I often hear comments about how “damaged” the children are (not true), how you can’t adopt a baby through foster care (not true), or how every single birth parent is a horrible abusive drug addict (not true). Adopting through foster care has been such blessing to our family. It has given us the opportunity to be parents to two of the coolest kids in the world.
A Story of Foster Care and Adoption – Guest Post at ADOPTION MAMA.