As a foster mom, Lindsey Barron wants others to join her and get emotionally attached

Lindsey Barron has a lot of skills. 

She has a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and a Masters degree in Management and Leadership. She has experience in program management. She owns her own business. And she is a master of quick-counting children. 

“You learn who to pair who up with and who’s going to let somebody walk away,” she said. “So with three bigs and three littles, you have to pair them up strategically so that they will stay together when you take them out, and then it’s easier to count in pairs.” 

Barron is the owner of RocketCityMom.com and has the mom credentials for it. Barron and her husband, Tommy, have six children. The Barron Bunch is a big bunch and she’s had to learn fast counting with her eyes to make sure everyone’s accounted for. 

Their three bigs — Elijah and Daxton, both 18, and Analece, 15 — are their biological children from previous marriages. Jaden, 8, and Zoie, 7, are siblings that the Barrons adopted after fostering. They also have permanent custody of a 5-year-old that they also plan to adopt. 

The growth of the Barron Bunch was never planned. In fact, there was never a plan to foster children, until it happened. 

It began in 2018. The Barrons were not a licensed foster family, but they got provisional approvement to serve as a family placement for a baby girl. When the girl was placed in full foster care, she had to leave and go to a licensed foster home. 

“It broke my heart for her to leave, knowing that we had a place that she could have stayed,” Lindsey said. 

At that point, they decided to get their foster license. They decided to only foster one child at a time, and they had only one in the home when DHR called and asked about taking in Jaden and Zoie.

After praying and talking about it, the Barrons took them in. 

The Barrons officially adopted Jaden and Zoie in August of 2020. It was a great day; friends, family and even teachers came to the courthouse for the ceremony. They wore matching shirts with the Bible verse John 15:16, which reads in part “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”  Afterward, they had a huge pool party. 

“It was a relief to be out of the foster care system with them and to have control over them and their futures and how they integrated into our family permanently going forward,” Lindsey said. 

In the years since they joined the Barron Bunch, Jaden and Zoie have grown into loving and energetic members of the family. Jaden loves playing baseball; Zoie likes to cheer and do gymnastics. They both love to be outside and play with their siblings and the family’s two dogs. 

For Lindsey, fostering was about helping children who, like Jaden and Zoie, needed a place to go and heal. 

“We knew we could open our home,” Lindsey said. “We knew we could open our hearts. We had each individually opened our hearts to the other children, and so we knew we had an opportunity to serve others and to be able to give kids a place that they could come and rest and just be kids, whether it was for a short period of time or whether it was permanent.” 

It’s not easy, and there is heartbreak in watching a child come into your home with a garbage bag of a few belongings. The first few nights can be hard as a child tries to make everything perfect, only to have all the trauma they’ve been through manifest when the honeymoon phase is over. 

“You see them come in and it breaks you into a million pieces,” Lindsey said. “They’re broken and you’re broken, but you get to put those pieces back together. You put your heart back together as you watch them learn and grow and become kids again. And then you’re putting their heart back together the entire time when you give them that stability and that love that they missed over time.” 

Lindsey urges others who are considering fostering children to take the next step. The one thing she said she hears the most from people is that they’re worried about getting too attached to the children who come into their home. To her, those are the people needed the most. 

“That’s exactly who should foster, is those people that feel like they would get too attached, because then they love them like they’re their own,” she said. “And that’s exactly what they deserve from day one, is to come in and be a part of that family and to be accepted and loved.” 

If you’re interested in becoming a foster family, Kids to Love can help. Click here to start your journey.