Question: What Does It Mean to 'Foster' a Child?
I really like how the Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary defines 'foster,' because there is a lot of encouraging that goes with being a foster parent.
Answer:
Being a foster parent also means providing a foster child with new opportunities he may not have had the opportunity to experience without our care.
Being a foster parent means
- Mentoring birth family and helping the reunification process.
- Taking a foster child out trick-or-treating for the first time.
- Showing a foster child their first fire works on a 4th of July.
- Helping a foster child graduate from high school and set a goal to attend college or a vocational school.
- Baking a foster child's first birthday cake, even though they're turning eight.
- Sharing some summer fun with a child who has never ran through a sprinkler.
- Maintaining connections with a past foster child, who now is parenting her own child and doesn't mind you being a grandparent figure to her child.
- Encouraging a foster child to rise above the issues of their past and move on with their life.
There are a lot of good things that come along with being a foster parent.
