A Seed

This afternoon we went to the birthday party of one of my former foster children.  She is now 8 and doing so well!  At the party I met one of the neighbors, who had brought her little girl.  We talked, and through conversations with others, she discovered BB was being adopted by me out of foster care.  That started a whole new conversation about foster parenting and adopting.

Oh, how I love to share my experiences, both good and bad, on this subject.  I probably talked her ear off!  For a long time, I thought she was just curious.  I felt like maybe I was planting a seed.  Later on, she shared that she had several siblings and couldn't imagine her daughter growing up as an only child.  She shared that she and her husband had been considering foster care, but they never got around to figuring out the process.  Wow!  Maybe I was watering and nurturing the seed instead.  I gave her some info, as well has my phone numbers, and told her to call me anytime!

Later in the day, we visited another foster family with whom we have been friends for a few years.  I found out that newborns are being put in shelters due to a severe shortage of foster parents in our area.  A year ago, they had cleared almost all kids under 10 out of shelters into foster homes.  Now they are not only filling the shelters, but they can't even find homes for newborns.  That has never been a problem before!  I was told they are even calling the juvenile detention center looking for beds for the older kids.  Oh, my heart - it makes me so sad!