Photo © Carrie Craft, licensed to About.com, Inc.

As we're finishing up school here this week, and man did time fly, it's easy to want to just coast in to a summer of relaxation. But, while it may be the end of the school year, it's still important as a foster parent to help your foster child finish the year strong.

• Encourage your foster child to participate in fun end-of-the-year activities. Perhaps go as a volunteer.
• Attend book fairs and buy several books to encourage reading during the summer. Ask their teacher for recommendations or appropriate reading levels.
• Encourage your children to finish homework and get in any extra credit points, if possible.
• Collect last papers, pictures, and report cards for the social workers and birth mom and dad.

Is school almost out in your area? Are your kids excited for summer or going to miss friends. I have a mix here, one is excited, and the other is sad.

Photo courtesy of Chris Chmielewski

Two years ago we learned about the launch of a new magazine for foster parents and others who work within the foster care system. That magazine, Foster Focus, launched May 2, 2011, in honor of National Foster Care Awareness Month,  has covered amazing stories and participated in many events under the leadership of its owner and creator, Chris Chmielewski. Chris Chmielewski is a former foster kid who aged out of the system to become a success story. He is very passionate about the needs of foster children and the need to improve the foster care system that cares for children.

From Chris:

"Success for me has been measured in how seriously I have been taken by the hierarchy of the system. People really seem to enjoy the fact that the mag is run by a former foster kid, especially the CEO's. I think it makes them feel like they had a hand in the success story. Also getting to meet Jimmy Graham from the Saints is pretty cool too."

Photo courtesy of Chris Chmielewski

Learn more about Foster Focus magazine and Chris Chmielewski. Foster Focus is the first nationally distributed monthly magazine devoted to foster children.

Getty Images / Mario Lalich

I have to agree with the popular saying, "Motherhood is not for wimps." I think it goes double for foster and adoptive mothers. It takes a special person to mother and nurture a child that is not your biological child.

Click "comments" below and share something special about your mom, whether she's your birth, adoptive, or foster mom. We would love to hear your comments.

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What Is an Adoptive Mother?
Adoption Stories - When We Became a Forever Family
You Know You're a Foster or Adoptive Mother When...
Adoption Poems for Adoptive Parents
Foster Care and Foster Care Adoption Poems

It may not be well known to the rest of the world, but so some in the adoption community - today, the Saturday before Mother's Day, is Birthmother's Day. Here is a link to some poetry and other writings by birth or first mom's.

Most adoptions are a happy time for the adoptive family. Adoption is seemingly all about the adoptive parents and the child and what they have gained. Little thought is often given to the losses created by adoption.

By reading the words of these birth mothers I hope that we can begin to see and appreciate their feelings. Take some time this weekend to think about the women who have made us adoptive mothers mothers and what we or our children can do to honor and remember them.

Suggested Reading:

• Adoption Poems About Birth Mothers
• Once You've Decided That Adoption Is Right for Your Baby
• How to Open a Closed Adoption
• Preparing Your Child for an Open Adoption