💗 Becoming a Foster Parent

I have thought about blogging about our journey for awhile now and it wasn’t until I was speaking with  people recently that I realized just how much it was needed. Many people have heard about being a foster parent, and there are many ideas surrounding it, but very few people truly understand just what it entails. This blog is intended to be just a little glimpse into the life of a foster parent and to share the good, the bad and the ugly. 

Growing up, I had always thought about becoming a foster mom someday but had never really looked into what it entailed. When I first met Jazmine she told me that she wanted to become a foster mom and she told me all about growing up in a very large foster family. We talked about our expectations as parents, how we wanted to raise our kids, what type of education and lifestyles we wanted for them etc. 

Fast Forward to shortly before we got married. Laying in the dog room, shortly after delivering a litter of puppies we were scrolling on Facebook and saw a post about an event coming up to raise awareness about fostering and how to decide if it was right for you. We called the number listed to find out more and before we knew it instead of signing up for the event, we were giving our information in order  to be signed up for licensing classes to become foster  parents. Not ten minutes later the call had ended and it sunk in what we had just done. Suddenly it was not just a distant dream. We had signed up to get our license and could potentially have kids in a few short months. My over exhausted brain didn’t fully process it in the moment but over the next few weeks it began to sink in. 

 Once classes officially began we were overwhelmed with paperwork, interviews and inspections. During classes we kept busy preparing for our wedding and often were working on decor for the wedding during classes. It felt like the licensing process would never be complete. Between everything being online due to covid, offices getting quarantined and state covid laws, things were taking much longer then anticipated. Shortly before we officially had our license we began getting several calls from a private agency asking if we could take placements. We were heartbroken when we had to say no. Terrified that once we got our license those calls would stop coming.  We were so excited to take our first placement but also realistic in assuming that it could take months to get another call that was a good fit for our family. We were impatient and so ready to get started. 

We set up the guest rooms for potential kiddos and bought items here and there that we would need. We set up a playroom and purchased gently used toys. I collected baby bottles, stationary items and and pacifiers as Jazmine constantly reminded me that the odds of us getting a baby were low, but in my heart I knew we would. I set up a nursery and continued to dream though we were hesitant to collect clothing or too many toys since we didn’t know the exact ages or genders we would be taking placement of. We were on a roll getting things ready  and then Christmas  and New Years came around. We paused on setting things up and enjoyed spending the holidays with our family, temporarily forgetting we could become parents any day. Little did we  know that our lives were about to change drastically.