D & K face the anxiety of an approaching court date that may terminate Tommy and Molly’s mother’s parental rights. This may mean that D & K will already be adopting. Hear how they’re facing the unknown and what they’ve been learning.
The Detroit News recently did a story about the shortage of foster parents in Michigan. The article can be found here.
The last issue you discussed with a shortage of foster families with one contributing factor being after adopting the foster family takes a hiatis… we are one of those families in a different state.
Our first son (2nd placement), he was 18 months old when our now 2 year old son (fourth placement) came to us straight from the hospital. We started our babies adoption when he was 9 months old. We are just now at a place where we are wanting to hop back into it.
If you are able to adopt your little ones I highly recommend taking a break and getting your groove as a family down. =) God placed these little souls with you for a reason take the time to enjoy being parents and a family. Just my 2 cents…
We will be praying His Will be done in their lives and yours. It is exciting to hear the possiblities that are in your future.
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Praying for you and the kids during this time!
Our foster daughters bio. parents’ rights were terminated in March. I do feel that the judge made the right decision. The parents just were kind of giving up and not doing much to get her back… We just adopted her on June 2nd and are so happy that she is going to be with us forever!
As a daughter of foster parents, I know what it’s like to be waiting and anxious in the time before these hearings. You both sound very okay with wherever the case goes, which is great. I totally understand what you mean about being willing for the kids to go back to their bio. parents, yet being totally willing to adopt them too. Remember that God has had this all planned out and know what is best for these precious children. Praying for His will in this situation and looking forward to hearing what happened!
I really appreciate your perspective on biological parents and our approach to foster-to-adopt. My wife and I were foster parents for about a year with the hope of adopting. I remember the roller-coaster all too well
I posted a review of your latest episode on http://adoptivedads.org. Thanks again for your effort here. It’s serving a great need.
Your family will be in my prayers! You sound like wonderful parents! Thank you for taking time out of your busy days to keep us informed! I am a new foster parent waiting on a placement in southern Illinois and am looking forward to the journey to come!
Love the whole post but had to hop up from bed to comment (listen to the podcast as I go to bed – does NOT put me to sleep
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Your comment on hair caught my attention – my hubby and I hope to start foster care placement a little less than a year from now. My biggest silly concern has been ethnic hair!
Would love to see any websites you have found or any book recommendations you have. Have read that in the African-American community – a child’s hair is considered a reflection of the love the parents have (can imagine if you sit there doing hair for 45 min!).
Marilyn – Yes, I have recommendations for you:
Happy Girl Hair (http://www.happygirlhair.com/) – love this site!
It’s All Good Hair (http://www.amazon.com/Its-All-Good-Hair-Childrens/dp/0060934875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276983930&sr=8-1)
Way to research ahead of time! We were not expecting girls so the whole hair thing was not much of a consideration of mine. But now I have “hair envy” since doing Molly’s hair.
LOVE this podcast- I’m so excited that I randomly came upon a post on ohdeedoh.com linking me here. What a blessing it is to my life and I so wish we had found this in the beginning of our fostering process! I have been sharing the link on facebook as well -hoping to inspire others to listen and hear what it’s all about instead of choosing not to foster based on misconceptions. We are in the process of waiting for the termination of rights hearing for our 1 yr old’s bio mom- it will be on Sept 16th and at this point, everyone is saying that they can’t forsee bio mom getting a second chance at reunification services as she has already had a year to get her life together. We are emotionally drained from the crazy rollercoaster- I so wish I could have started out with the perspective you all have but having worked in foster care for years , it has been very difficult to trust in a system that has let down the kids I worked with over and over again. We trust in the Lord- knowing that He sees the bigger picture with our sweet Allie girl but it has been difficult for me to let go of the horrors I saw working in the system- especially with kids that were returned to bio parents who weren’t ready to parent. Blessings to you guys for joining in the craziness of foster care and for allowing God to work in and through you, not just in the lives of the kids coming into your home, but in the lives of the social workers, judges, attorneys etc- all who you come into contact with. I know that you guys find these kids to be more of a blessing to you than you could ever be to them- that’s how we feel about what Allie has been to us! Also- thanks for the hair links! I have found some amazing hair products form curlbiz.com that work great but after a year, I still don’t know how to style her hair other than pigtails or a headband.
Karen –
I’m not sure what you little girl’s hair is like but at only a year old, there may not be a ton you can do past puffs/pig tails & headbands. I put Molly’s hair in puffs the majority of the time. Her hair still is not super long. It is good to put it in braids or some kind of knot (see those resources) if you can because it really locks in the moisture as long as you put in a good leave in conditioner.