"Addi's Message" is written from the perspective of a teenager whose family decided to step boldly into the world of foster care.
I had the opportunity to interview a second family. They often foster younger kids and have young children of their own and they recently accepted a new placement. The kids they fostered before were with them for a while but the children were unexpectedly removed and placed with a relative. They dealt with the grief of this for some time but did not let it stop them from continuing to serve as a foster family. They were led to the foster community because they had been raised in families who fostered. A challenge that they unexpectedly faced was the struggle to be attentive to their own children as well as their foster children.
I was excited to interview their daughter as well. She’s only 11 but has great insight. She agreed that sharing the attention with her foster siblings was a struggle at times. She also talked about the joys of having foster siblings along with the challenges. She explained that she enjoys having foster siblings because it adds excitement to her family and can be very fun getting to know new kids and spending time with them. Although their family faced great struggles and losses in fostering at times, they continue to find the joy and importance in it and have not given up. After talking to them, I was reminded of how God can use the struggles and trials of situations to prepare and strengthen us in that area of our lives if we let Him. What I’ve learned from this is that it may be the parents choosing to do foster care but God uses the experience to grow the biological children in the family as well.