What would you say to the person who wants to host foster children but feels they might be inadequate, ill equipped, etc.?
Are there days as a parents of biological children that you feel inadequate, and ill equipped? Are there days that you feel inadequate and ill equipped your marriage? I think we all have days like that. I certainly do!
There are many days that I feel that way about foster care. And probably more days than not. Actually, I can promise that there are more days than not. Let’s take foster care out of the equation. Children are unpredictable. There are so many days that I wake up and walk into my son’s room and meet a child that I don’t know! He’s learning and changing so quickly, and he’s three going on fourteen, so we, as parents, have to stay on our toes! Talk about ill equipped! We think he’s going to zig, and then he zags. We think he’s going to zag, and he zigs!
So add foster care back in to the scenario. When we first started dipping our toes into the foster world, we were completely unprepared. We thought we were asking all the right questions, and we thought we had all the answers, and then something would come up that would take us completely by surprise! As I’ve mentioned before, we have an incredible support system that has equipped us with the right tools and information needed for us to be successful. The longer we are on this journey, the more we learn and the better prepared we are.
I have said it before, and I’ll say it many times over: there are many people who are capable of doing foster care, even if they don’t feel that they are. No one really feels capable at the beginning. I would bet that not many people feel capable or qualified to have kids biologically, but do it anyway.
What if we could change the culture to say, “You know what, I’m not prepared. I’m not qualified. I’m completely ill-equipped. But I’m going to be a foster parent because I believe in helping other people. I believe in being a positive role model for the next generation. I believe in hospitality and generosity.”
That would be a pretty awesome world to live in. That would be a pretty awesome world to raise our children in.
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