6 things a former foster child wants you to know

Happy National Foster Care Month! The month of May is the time to recognize everyone who works to ensure children in foster care are connected with strong and loving families.

The need for foster families continues to be large in Alabama. There are more than 5,700 children in foster care in the state, but only about 2,300 families who can take them in.

Brooklyn was our first Kids to Love scholarship recipient to graduate from college. She’s now a school nurse and married with two beautiful children. We asked her to tell us what she wants potential foster families to know about the children they would be welcoming into their homes. Here are the things she thinks are most important:

1. “The kids aren’t responsible for their parents’ actions and choices. They want to be loved and given an opportunity at life just like others.”

2. “Walking into an unfamiliar house with strangers for the first time isn’t easy for a child at any age. They want a safe, stable place that becomes both a home and family rather than just a house with foster parents.”

3. “It takes time to build trust between a foster family. The ones that we trusted the most broke it all and chose other habits over their own flesh-and-blood born child.”

4. “‘Foster child’ doesn’t define who we are or hinder us from being able to succeed.”

5. “Separation from biological parents and family is traumatic. Keeping siblings together prevents further complex trauma as a result of them being separated.”

6. “If it were not for foster care and foster parents, there would be a large number of children who are left on the streets to fend for themselves. We are thankful for foster parents who give children an opportunity at life. There are more children in care than there are foster parents. More foster parents are needed.”

Brooklyn’s right: More foster parents are definitely needed, and we can help you start your journey!

Kids to Love will be holding TIPS classes in the near future. TIPS is a required class for foster family certification and helps prepare parents for welcoming new children into their homes. Make sure you check our News and Become a Foster Family pages for updates, as well as our Facebook page.