Monday, March 13, 2017

Fostering Growth

Does the feeling of wanting to be a mother ever subside? Does it turn into a calming sense of relief knowing it is not going to happen? Nope. Not at all.

There are definitely times where I look and reflect on my life and am 100% sure I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  But those moments pass and then I find myself 100% sure I'm supposed to be a mother.

This last weekend, my amazing husband and I took the first set of classes to become foster parents. We went to Pullman a few weeks ago and took our infant CPR/First Aid class, and next weekend we will complete caregiving course.  It's 24 hours spread out between two weekends, so both Saturday and Sunday, we sit in a room and learn about "the system" and other important topics surrounding Foster Care.

At this point, I have set an age range that I'm comfortable with.  This could change.  We could also be up to foster siblings, but at this point, I just need to know how it all works, and I should probably stick to one kiddo at this point.

This is something we've talked about for over 5 years, and it all comes down to timing.  It seems in the past, the timing wasn't right.  Since we live in a small town, the classes offered are at random dates during the year, and it just seemed like we already would be out of town, or something stopped us from signing up.

Well, the timing is now matching up and we've completed over 1/2 of the classes needed, and we are turning in our paperwork this week to get the background check and home visits taken care of.

This decision was made over many long discussions between us and our families.  We know this is going to be hard.  We know that reunification is the number one goal of the foster system.  That will be the hardest part.  Letting go of someone that has been in my care for however length of time will be hard.  Super duper hard. But this isn't about me.  This is about giving a human the best home/snuggles/eye contact/care they need at that moment in time.

I'm going to need your help, guys.  I really am.  I'm going to need support because I've never been a mom.  I've never had a child in my care for an extended period of time.  I'm going to ask a lot of questions to my mom friends.  I may even need some of your old baby clothes, as I don't know ages until they call me.  So I will need all sizes for both genders.  I will need books, toys, and all the essentials for caring for a baby or toddler.