Our experience with kids’ desires about their futures are pretty varied. We started our foster care journey with Kiddo. She had just turned 4 when she came to us. Initially her parents were not doing what they needed to to get her back, and Kiddo was seething with fury at her Mom for telling CPSContinue reading “Different Kids, Different Views”
Tag Archives: bio parents
Family Expansion
We just had a visit with Sprout and Sunny’s family. It’s a two hour drive to Mama’s house, which the girls complain is the most boring thing ever, but when we get there it’s all worth it. Today, not only was their Mama there and their other three siblings, but also an uncle and twoContinue reading “Family Expansion”
Structure, Consequences, and Rewards: What Works?
Let me start this post by emphasizing every kid is different. Of the three kids in our house, different things work for each one of them. With Sprout, she’s been with us since she was less than 2, in a stable, structured, safe environment where her needs are always met. She views Seth and meContinue reading “Structure, Consequences, and Rewards: What Works?”
It’s a Birthday. Brace for Impact.
Birthdays for foster kids can be unexpectedly full of strange emotions and events. It’s Sunny’s 9th birthday today, and she’s suuuuper excited. For one thing, her family didn’t really celebrate birthdays so this is an exciting new “English” (non-Muslim) tradition for her. For another, like all kids, she wants to be the center of attentionContinue reading “It’s a Birthday. Brace for Impact.”
Seeking: Someone to Pay Attention
We’ve noticed over the years that a common theme in our kids coming into foster care is a deep need for undivided attention. I think there are a lot of different reasons for this. A lot of kids coming into care are coming from pretty extreme poverty, and quite frankly, an impoverished parent desperately tryingContinue reading “Seeking: Someone to Pay Attention”
Openness in Adoptions
I’m strongly in favor of open adoptions – in the vast majority of cases – for so many reasons, primarily because there’s abundant research that now shows it is healthiest for the kids, and it should all be about the kids. Times have changed. This is not the 80s when adoptions were usually closed. WeContinue reading “Openness in Adoptions”
The Adoption Process Takes an Eternity
So. One of our kids will have been in foster care nearly 1000 days when we next get to court, when the court will determine whether to terminate her parents’ parental rights. Because that court date is coming up in less than a month, I contacted the guy I’m going to hire as our attorneyContinue reading “The Adoption Process Takes an Eternity”
Closing in on 1,000 isn’t “lucky”
Sprout has been in foster care 921 days.  By the time we get to court next, it’ll have been 963 days. I am a nervous wreck. I don’t know what to expect in court other than an excruciatingly emotional day. I’ve worked as a lawyer in the system but never got to this stageContinue reading “Closing in on 1,000 isn’t “lucky””
Halloween Lives On!
Sunny deserves her nickname. She’s an incredibly resilient kid, usually happy, and has a fabulous warm smile. There’s another side to her too though, and I’ll just call it the “waves against a rock” side of her. Like a lot of kids who wind up in care, Sunny has struggled to get some of herContinue reading “Halloween Lives On!”
Religion is Tricky
The Backstory I was raised Catholic. Seth was raised intermittently Pentecostal – i.e. Pentecostal when his parents weren’t getting kicked out of churches for pushing limits. We both walked away from our childhoods abhorring organized religion and its exclusivity. About 22 years later, when Kiddo had been with us for about 6 months, we realizedContinue reading “Religion is Tricky”
sprinklesonachaoscupcake.com 