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I love to love my kids.
I may hate doing dishes and folding laundry. I may loathe washing kitchen floors. I may even secretly cringe when it comes to supervising homework time.
But I ADORE my kids.
I love their smelly little toes and their sweet puppy breath when I snuggle them in the morning. I love watching them play and hearing them laugh. I love discovering who they are and helping them grow into who they want to become.
I am not a perfect parent. I wish I never lost my temper, forgot a dentist appointment, or dropped my son off late for school. I wish my house were more organized, my kids followed a chore plan and I always had dinner ready on time.
But I know that my kids are incredibly blessed — because they have a mom and a dad who love them more than anything on this earth. They have parents who are completely dedicated to them, unconditionally and forever.
When I tuck my kids in bed at night, I am relieved that they are safe and healthy and that, for this moment in time, I can protect them.
But as I watch them sleep, I always feel a sadness too. Because I know there are so many children out there who aren’t tucked safely in their beds at night, children who don’t have a parent who is able to protect and love them.
And I want to go out and gather up those children and be a mom to them too.
Right now, there are thousands of children who need a mom or dad to come rescue them right this minute.
Adopt Us Kids.org is a tool for connecting foster and adoptive families with waiting children throughout the United States. Registration and participation on the site is FREE for homestudied families and foster adoption professionals.
For many of us, the time may not be right for us to foster or adopt a child.
BUT, maybe for you it is the right time. Maybe you haven’t thought about it that much before. But maybe, if you stop and reflect, you might realize that you DO have the love and the home that a child, or a sibling set of children, need.
You don’t need to be a perfect parent — no parent is perfect. And these children aren’t looking for perfect. They are looking for loving homes, for parents who will love to love them.
It is amazing what love can do. It can help us fold a lifetime of laundry, it can make us smile while we wash the kitchen floor, it can even get us through homework.
You might think that it couldn’t be you. You aren’t good enough to be a foster parent or an adoptive parent.
But when you look into the eyes of these children, you might find that you do have enough love to do it. You might find such a resource of love inside you that you realize that this is exactly what you can do. You can be the loving family that these children so desperately need.
And I bet they will think so too!
Please check out Adopt Us Kids. Even if you aren’t able to foster or adopt a child, I promise you will be changed by reading some of their stories. And while you are there, say some prayers for them that they will find the loving families they so desperately need.
May is National Foster Care Month. Right now there are 496,000 American children and youth in foster care. Young people in foster care especially need nurturing adults on their side because their own families are in crisis and unable to care for them.
Even if you are unable to become a Foster Parent, there are still MANY ways that you can help change the life of a child.
No matter what their age, every young person in foster care benefits from a meaningful connection to a caring adult who becomes a supportive and lasting presence in his or her life… Success stories come about when someone takes the time to offer comfort, provide support, give advice, or simply share a milestone moment with a youngster enduring a difficult family situation.
Now is the time to get involved. No matter how much time you have to give, you have the power to do something positive that will Change a Lifetime for a young person in foster care. For more information, please visit www.fostercaremonth.org.
joiem says
hello
my name is joiem and i am looking for a parent to adopt me i am 15 years old and i live on my on since 10 trs old i am in secondry school and i will love to have some one who will love and guid me as a mom does for her kid if interested in this mail on the e mail above
Bailey's Leaf says
Our daughter is a foster-to-adopt county kid. We love her to pieces and couldn’t have asked for a better blessing.
blessedmomto7 says
I just did a similar blog post on my blog 🙂
Petula says
Great post and wonderful information about the organization. I’ve always thought about adopting one day, but now that I am divorcing it doesn’t seem too realistic. I have my hands full with the four I have, but I will take the opportunity to give back and help whenever and wherever I can.
Therese says
Thank you for doing this post on Foster Care Parents and Adoptive Parents
As a prior foster child going in an out of foster homes and group homes and going to over 20 schools I encourage anyone who feels they have a home and some love to give to think about doing this. There was and still are a large number of teenage children that will go in and out of homes and will not be adopted because a lot of times they are viewed as too old.
Going through what I did made me who I am, but I am not going to say there are not times when I wonder, I wonder how different my life would have been if I would have more of a support system if I was able to trust people easier, etc.
You can also become a visiting resource where the foster child can visit on weekends or holidays or become mentor. I am looking to become a mentor in the near future, and I am hoping before the next 5 years that I will have foster children in my home.
turnitupmom says
I have two adopted sisters, so this really resonated for me. I just wrote a piece on my blog called “The Lonely Chalker,” about a child who wrote something so saddening in chalk on a playground in NYC. There are so many children, with and without parents, craving love and hugs. Your children are so lucky!
http://turnitupmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/lonely-chalker.html
Maggie says
Thank you for sharing this valuable information. Being a foster and adoptive mom, I agree, there are SO many children out there just waiting for a forever family. My daughter waited 7 years (and was in 11 homes) before we adopted her at the age of 12. So much damage has been done to her in those years of being tossed around like an unwanted puppy. 🙁
Amy says
Back in 1st century Rome, unwanted babies (unwanted because of disease, deformity, handicaps, simply the wrong sex, etc, etc) were discarded outside of the city walls along with the trash. The early Christians would go out and search the trash heaps for babies who were then placed in homes of other followers.
THIS is what we as Christians are called to do. THIS is what Christ had in mind when he told us to care for the weak, clothe the naked and feed the hungry.
What would happen if pastors all over the world started preaching this from their pulpits and started challenging people to BE Christ to all of the “unwanted” children around the world today? What all the good, loving, stable, middle-aged couples in churches today -couple who have already raised wonderful families- decided to open their hearts and homes again to foster? What if young couples were challenged to start saving early in marriage (since it’s unfortunately so expensive) in order to be able to adopt down the road?
As Christians, WE ARE CALLED to do this.
I totally think it could change the world.
(I’m not at all implying that churches should use fostering or adoption as a means to proselytize, but as a way to LOVE hurting children. Because they need love and we are called to love them. We can’t follow only some of His words and leave the ones that might make us uncomfortable, vulnerable, etc.)
My husband and I currently have four sons (three here with us and one waiting in heaven). We haven’t adopted YET, but we will. I feel VERY strongly about this as you can probably tell… plus it might just be my only way to have a daughter… 😉
The Gang's Momma says
Thank you for helping to spread the word about fostering and adoption. What a pleasant way to start my day, praying over this post, that it might be used by God to grow someone’s family or to open someone’s eyes to how they can help make a difference in the life of a child. Thank you! Thank you!
No matter WHERE the Lord directs you to go to build your family thru fostering/adopting, you will find yourself far more “rescued” than you can even imagine! The blessing of changing that child’s life comes back 1,000-fold on you. I promise!
James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
brandy w says
i love my kids so much. i wish all those kids could find a home. at th esame time i understand that there are millions of foster children around the world. i wish people would adopt her in the usa rather than going to other
countries
Donya says
This post made me weep, openly weep. I am an adopted child. I have known I was adopted since middle school, 20+ years now and there isn’t a day that goes by I don’t thank the good Lord for my life.
I have the most amazing parents any child could ever dream for. I have been loved, supported and blessed by two people who wanted nothing more than a child to cal their own.
I wish more people would find the miracle that is adoption. It literally saved my life. Thank you for spreading the word about the importance of adoption. I encourage everyone to survey their hearts, you may just find you have a miracle in you yet.
melody is slurping life says
Janice ~ You know my story. 🙂
Wife + husband + three adoptions + one bio son = an amazing family [who prior to the adoptions fostered many children].
I encourage those considering foster parenting and/or adoption to search your hearts.
Thank you for sharing this.
Maddy says
I have a couple of friends with adopted children. We became friends after they had adopted via a mum’s club but did they ever have some stories to tell.
Best wishes
Janice says
Yes Lisa – I am praying that one day it will be “right” for us to adopt too. 🙂
My 7yr old son Jackson wants us to as well. He was SUCH a loving heart and asks all the time if we can adopt a child who needs a family. 🙂
Lisa says
I agree, there is nothing quite like the feeling of loving your kids. I love to love my daughter, I love being her mom.
I’ve often thought about adopting to grow our family instead of “making” a baby of our own. It is definitely something we would consider doing when we are ready.