Blending Families: The Series on Blending Your Bio and Foster Kids

 Taking in foster kids is a big decision, and many things should be considered when you have children already in the home.  Please read the following series to discover what I learned on my journey and listen to my daughter's reflections on her experiences with foster children growing up.

 

• Into the Fold: The Effect on Your Bio Kids When Foster Kids Come Home: Part 1 

  Synopsis: Becoming a foster parent when you already have children of your own is a big decision, and one that is sometimes made with well-intentioned naïveté. At least, it was in my case.  Ten years ago, I led my family, (2 daughters and my wife) into a life helping children in my community. I already had a lot of experience dealing with troubled kids at my job where I frequently supervised kids doing community service hours. I found out that bringing them into my home and making them part of my family was both rewarding, and a much greater risk than I had anticipated.

• Into the Fold: Blending Your Bio Kids with Your Foster Kids - Part 2: Rooms to Grow… 

   Synopsis:  I asked my daughter to write down her thoughts on growing up in a home with foster children and I thought that her advice and insights would be very valuable to new (and experienced) foster parents out there. I feel that foster parent training may not really prepare families for the realities of bringing children with complex emotional, behavioral and cognitive issues into their home. Caseworkers and counselors, though they may be well meaning, do not always “have your back” and you must take the reins and lead your household in the safest and most nurturing way possible for both your biological and foster children. 

• Blending Your Foster Kids and Your Bio Kids: Part 3 When Jealousy Rears Its Ugly Head… 

  Synopsis:  When I first started doing foster care I knew it would be a growing and learning experience for my whole family. If you read Parts 1 and 2 of this series, you can see that the growing has been painful at times, but there have been countless blessings as well. My daughters have met all different kinds of people during our family’s journey through foster care, and some of the children touched our lives and hearts in positive ways.  Sometimes the relationships evolved in unexpected ways.
  When I asked my oldest daughter, now 21, to reflect on some of the children that crossed her path, she thought about one girl who really illustrates this point.