We took in our first foster placement on November 2, 2007. On July 23, 2010, our eighth foster placement joined our family. Growing up I never envisioned myself as the mother of eight.
When we got the call about our most recent placement, Baby E, the woman from the placement agency informed us that she knew we were adoption minded and asked if we wanted Baby E because she would not be staying. The current climate in Texas is reunification with any family. Any child we accept in our home we already feel that she will not be staying with us. It’s hard to not attach, but we’ve stopped going in with blinders on thinking the foster system was going to build our family. Our original goal with foster parenting was to give children the loving home they needed until their permanent one was ready for them. We were able to provide that. I told the gal on the phone that we were delighted to have the baby.
Baby E was just born the day before and did not have a name yet. That was exciting for us because we could call her anything we wanted, so it would be like naming our own child. When Baby E was ready to be released and come to us, she had been named. That’s OK. That’s how it should be. She was a tiny thing. I had to get a new infant carrier because she was so small in the one I had that she was not safe in it.
She has gotten so big and is doing well. She has a few health concerns that we’re watching. The biggest change is her status. We now have to decide if we’d want to keep her. Of course I do, with some contingencies. We’ll have to wait and see.