Getting a Foster Parent license is hard, and not hard enough. The training really tries to prepare you for the real-life challenge of welcoming in another family's disfunction into your home. No amount of preparation would be adequate. You battle the system, you battle the judgement, you battle the placements' baggage, and you battle yourself: be more patient, give more, care more, BE MORE. In the end, it's never enough.
And Jerry and I decided that the turmoil and instability that fostering gave our family was not fair to our kids. Our incredibly lucky and spoiled rotten kids deserve our undivided attention.
We will find other ways to give to the cause of saving our community's children. I donated all the equipment I had: a crib, two pack-and-plays, years worth of clothes, toddler plates and cups, small flatware...we gave it all to those who could give more.
