Foster Parent Announcement

Dear Family and Friends,

I am overjoyed to announce that I have decided to open my home and my heart to welcome foster children into my life by providing respite care and foster care. On any given day, there are approximately 400,000 children in foster care in the United States and over 13,500 in Ohio alone! Those numbers are unlikely to get better as the horrific drug problems in our country increase.

Respite care is a service to other fostering families. It allows foster parents to take a break (usually just for a weekend), which helps prevent burnout. It also gives the foster children a temporary break to do something special, and if the foster family has birth children, it allows them quality time alone with their parents.

With foster care, as with any child, we are not guaranteed a specific amount of time together. I may be their foster mom for a very short time or an extended period of time. Ultimately, the goal of foster care is to provide children with a safe and loving temporary home while working towards a goal of reunification with their biological family. Getting placed with a child is bittersweet as we rejoice that they are now in a safe place surrounded by love and stability, but we are devastated by having to tear them away from everything they know and suddenly put them with a stranger where they lack all things familiar to them. Depending on the situation, they may have to leave behind all of their favorite toys, clothes, etc. Can you imagine how you'd feel going to work one day and suddenly a stranger comes and tells you that you're not going home-- instead you're going to live in a new home with only the clothes on your back?

In the past 6 months, I have completed 60 hours of training, tons of paperwork and interviews, rearranged rooms, completed home improvement projects to pass multiple inspections, and gathered clothing and supplies for all genders, all ages, and all seasons. Due to my current work schedule, I am only able to accept infants- age 4 but am not as limited when it comes to respite care. I am licensed through Pathway Caring for Children, which is a private, non-profit therapeutic foster agency. Founded in 1973, Pathway Caring for Children continues to serve over 600 children and families each year with various offices throughout Northeast Ohio.

What I ask from each of you is for patience and understanding. Remember that the child you may see with me has been through more trauma in their short life than anyone should have to endure. This may include neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, etc. To protect their privacy, I may not be able to discuss with you what they've been through. Just know that it not only effects them emotionally, but as I found out dealing with the trauma following Evie's death, post traumatic stress symptoms also manifest themselves physically in heart palpitations & numbness and cognitively in things like loss of concentration & short term memory. Children often cannot communicate the terror going on inside of them that they have no control over, so these symptoms may come out in negative ways through their behavior or hurtful words. Please show them patience, kindness, and forgiveness with me and be slow to judge.

Thank you for being part of this beautiful journey with me! If you'd like to learn more about the process, Pathway Caring for Children has an information session the 3^rd Tuesday of every month at 6pm or you can attend a Quick Stop Tour the 3^rd Wednesday of every month at noon and enjoy a free lunch at their Belden Village office!

Love,

Courtney

"So far no morning sickness... but the paper cuts are terrible!"

Whether short or tall,

With shoes big or small,

Whoever arrives

Will change our lives.

"I am not afraid to grieve.

I am afraid of what will happen to these children if no one took the risk to love them."

"I have the ability to say I will not let their story end like this."