hollykaustin

Our Daycares Saga

Its a long saga so pour a cup o’ coffee and get cozy. On the whole, Seth and I have been really lucky with daycares. Choosing a daycare is such a monumental task because your child is going to spend more waking hours at daycare than at home with you during the week. So howContinue reading “Our Daycares Saga”

What it takes to get licensed as a foster parent

People sometimes ask us how hard it is to become a foster parent. Getting licensed to become foster parents was a time commitment and a whole hell of a lot of paperwork but it wasn’t difficult per se. We first had to submit an initial application, which was reviewed to determine our basic eligibility. IContinue reading “What it takes to get licensed as a foster parent”

How do kids wind up in foster care?

This is a tough post to write because I need to be conscientious about privacy issues and can’t really tell the story about each of our foster kids. I’ll talk in some generalities though, because a friend raised the question, and I think this is a really important topic. I think a lot of peopleContinue reading “How do kids wind up in foster care?”

Tiny’s Tale

Tiny’s transformation with us has been pretty amazing. When she came to us she was literally starving to death. She wasn’t eating or drinking, and at almost 2 years old she weighed only 15 lbs. We now believe she’s a Little Person which accounts for how small her frame is, but she was still soContinue reading “Tiny’s Tale”

Do the parents know where we live?

Nope. Definitely not. Even Kiddo’s mom, who has become a good friend and is welcome at our house literally any time, has only been coming to our house for about a year now. Until then she didn’t know where we lived. Why? If we want to have good relationships with our kids’ parents, why wouldn’tContinue reading “Do the parents know where we live?”

Handy Kids

Our house is old – 190 years old to be precise. And it’s a work in progress still after 13 years of owning and working on it. When we bought the house we got it off foreclosure. It had been empty for a few years, had burst pipes, and feral cats. One was dead inContinue reading “Handy Kids”

Reactions to “I’m a foster parent”

To say the least, we have gotten a wide variety of reactions from people about our being foster parents. For the most part we have been very lucky – our friends and family have supported us. That’s not always the case. One friend of ours who has her own biological son and also fostered forContinue reading “Reactions to “I’m a foster parent””

Truth.

“[Fostering is] like having a tattoo. It’s painful, but when you see the result, you start thinking about having another one.” Ben Aaronovitch, False Value

Staying Connected as Spouses and Co-Parents

This is another post responding to a question from a friend. How do Seth and I stay connected through all the craziness of foster care? Do we have date nights? Answer to the latter question first: no, damnit, not since Covid started. Before that? Rarely. And lordie do we need dates! What I wouldn’t doContinue reading “Staying Connected as Spouses and Co-Parents”

Amazon Registry

After some major futzing around on Amazon and getting myself wildly confused (oh Amazon, I have such a love/hate relationship with you), and after input from multiple friends who are smarter than I am, I have set up an Amazon registry for stuff we need to transition Kiddo into Tiny’s room and set up Kiddo’sContinue reading “Amazon Registry”