"Abbi's Message" is written from the perspective of a teenager whose family decided to step boldly into the world of foster care.
My parents have always valued family. They taught my older sister and me the
importance of close family relationships and supporting each other through trials and
successes. My mom always wanted to adopt or foster since my sister and I were little because of how much she values the support family can bring. It can be heartbreaking to think of so many children going without positive support from family. A few years ago we began to pray about foster care and adoption as a family and we finally decided it was something God was calling us to do. When we first considered fostering it felt confusing. Was this the best decision to make? Are we really the right family to do this? My parents spoke with friends from church who have been fostering for many years now to help with this decision. The best advice I believe we were given is to simply say yes. We were encouraged to say yes to the opportunity to give support and love to the children who had none. They encouraged us to trust that God would equip and provide us with what we needed every day to love foster children well; even if it felt like something unknown and uncomfortable.
In January of 2018 my parents decided to start the process of becoming certified foster parents. They became much more confident in their decision as they attended more and more classes for their certification. The knowledge they gained on how to care for foster children helped with this, but so did how much they realized there was a need for families to step up and foster in our community. The family that advised us to just say yes was completely right. There is no perfect family that is just fully prepared to foster when they first begin, but we learned that is okay. We learned that saying yes meant so much because although it was sometimes challenging, the challenge was so worth it to help in even the smallest ways with the foster crisis happening in our own city.