So, how can you change the outlook of foster care in the US? You can change it by becoming involved. You can change it by being a foster parent. You can change it by caring about the more than 700,000 children who need for you to care. I've read a lot of blogs and columns that say "The children are our future". What kind of future do we have if we aren't taking care of those who will be deciding it when we can't?
Children take their cue from the world around them. They learn by watching how things work. If they are being raised to believe that no one cares, then they will grow up believing that caring isn't something that they should be concerned with. We all have the opportunity now to impact the life of a child in a positive way. As a foster parent you can have the most definitive impact on the life of a child in need.
If you want to change the outlook of foster foster care in the US then change how involved you are in the process. You don't have to be a rocket scientist. You don't have to be a multi-millionaire. You don't have to be a movie star. You just have to care enough, and believe in the children that come through your front door. Most, if not all that do come through your door, have NEVER had someone believe in them.
You could be the one good thing that happens to a child in foster care. Foster care isn't easy. Foster care is not a breeze. Foster care isn't something you decide to do on a whim, because it might look good on your resume. Being a foster parent is a commitment. Being a foster family is a way of life. Those who decide to do it have thought about it. They have considered all the options. They know EXACTLY what they are getting into and they don't give up on the children that life has tossed aside.
It takes love, understanding and a boat load of patience to be a foster parent. You don't get immediate results from your efforts. You see your impact over time. You will see it in the grades of the child. You will see it in the attitude of the child. You will see it through the hope that the child now has for a better future. You will see the outlook of foster care change when that child grows up to do for another what you did for them. You have the ability to change the belief, and the behavior, of a foster child. You have the power to rewrite the future and make the world exactly what you want it to be by caring for, loving and raising a child in need.
You are more powerful than even you believe. Take it from a former foster child; Superman has nothing on you. Barbara and David had no cape. They had no potions. They had no magic creams, wands, spells and they weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination. What they had was love. What they had was patience. What they had was belief in me. What they did, with what they had, was raise me to be the woman that I am today.
You won't find them in the pages of Elle magazine. They have never been a guest on the Oprah or Dr. Phil show. They have never written a book. They were foster parents who devoted their life to giving me back mine. They replaced hate with love. They turned bad memories into good ones. They nourished the child within and that gave voice, purpose and reason to the woman that would someday be me. Fostering a child means fostering success.
When you think of foster care think of me and imagine the possibilities. BE the next Barbara and David. Be the reason that a child has hope. BE that person and I promise you that you WILL change the outlook of foster care.
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