Fostering Faithfully

Fostering Faithfully’s largest initiative will always be our resource center, a hub of fostering activity and connection. If you have ever received something from the center, it is due to Lindsay Alexander’s vision for providing for foster kids since 2015. To say that she has put sweat equity into the foster closet over the years is an understatement! Lindsay is the center’s founder and current Director, who knew well as a foster parent herself, that a clothing closet was a necessity for fostering families accepting placements suddenly. The first days of a placement there is so much lost sleep, so many tears and appointments, so much holding and cuddling, a lot of life and home re-arranging to be done for the new family member, and so there is little time or energy to run all over town (usually with many kids) shopping for basics a child needs the next morning. The clothing closet began with what Lindsay had to share: a utility/storage building outside of her daycare with no ai...

Sibling Struggles in Foster Care -Submitted By Oconee County Foster Mom The bubbly six year old was showing off his trademark gigantic smile, teasing my 16 year old about how beautiful she was. His effervescent personality had the entire family in stitches. How was it possible that this child could not find a place to call home? An emergency placement, “Andy” came to us at 1am with his older brother and slept until a caseworker picked him up the following morning. We bid him farewell. Andy was placed in another foster home, but the brother, being a teen, was unable to find a place to live so he came back to stay with us another night. It turns out that Andy had severe separation anxiety and really needed to be with a sibling, so Andy and his older brother came back to us for a long weekend (this was the second time he was placed with us). Fining a place for a teen and a younger sibling together in foster care is VERY difficult, so the older brother was placed in a group home an...

Never..."just a foster kid"   One Sunday, I walked up to the check in kiosk at my church with my typical 4, along with a set of sibling brothers that had joined our family.  The 5 year old was listening to me check in everyone, and then I said, "and this is our friend Ben here with us."  He looked up at the check-in volunteer and added, "I'm just a foster kid."   My world stopped spinning.  It was a great opportunity to take him over to the side hall, get down to his level, and look him in his precious brown eyes and say, "You are NOT just a foster child.  You are loved, you are special, you are important to us, and you are our friend."  Sometimes foster kids really hate being a foster kid . You may mistakenly think that since their biological families could not raise them for a season that they are magically grateful for their new place with 3 meals and plenty snacks a day, a loving family, and a safe home for a time, but even i...