Foster Parent Journey

I was a single foster mother from 2011 until 2017. It feels like it's been a long time since I began my journey as a Single Foster Parent. When I first started, I was blogging about my classes and the journey. I quickly got away from it and wasn't consistent. It gets busy when you have little people to take care of :)

• Some background about me written when I first started this Foster Care journey in 2010.
• Moving forward with becoming a foster parent.  
• Here are some old blog posts when I was taking PS-MAPP Classes in 2010-2011. 

The first time I became a parent was when my first foster children arrived in June 2011 - what an eye opening experience that was! In almost 6 years, I fostered 9 children. I haven't blogged about most of my foster care journey. Mostly because it was so busy and some of it was hard to share. It hasn't been an easy path to go down. I've learned a lot about parenting traumatized children, how to identify "things" that need to be addressed, how to navigate through the "system," and how to advocate for the best interest of my kiddos. For each child I've fostered, I've learned something from each of them.

My Foster Parent Journey

• June 2011-June 2012: First placements! 4 year old and 2 day old girls, sisters. 
• July 2012-December 2012: 13 year old teenage girl. 

Much Needed 6-month BREAK! 

• June 2013-September 2013: 4 month old, medically fragile baby boy. My first boy! 
• October 2013: 3 day old and 13 month old baby boys, brothers. Shortest placements, only 3 weeks! 
• December 2013-Forever: 4 day old baby boy, my Little Guy. Now my "Forever Son!" 
• January 2015-July 2015: 22 month old little girl, Little Miss. 
• September 2015-June 2016 - 3 month old baby boy, Munchkin. 

Although this path has been tough, it definitely has been the most rewarding experience I've lived through.

With much sadness and heartache, in January 2017 I officially closed my foster parent license so I could focus on my son and new baby. 

NOTE: Due to confidentiality, I use pseudo names and also keep details pretty vague. If I don't have many blog entries on a child, it's probably because I'm unable to share it in a "general non-specific way." 

Updated: January 2017