This month I am partnering with Christian Heritage and My Bridge Radio to encourage families in Nebraska to consider foster care as a way to love families in crisis. If you’re curious about foster parenting, now is the time to get your questions answered! Check out Christian Heritage for more details about informational events happening across Nebraska in September.
When people think about adoption they often assume that means one family has ended and a new family has begun. While there’s an element of truth in that, over the years of being an adoptive family we have learned that our kids will forever care about their biological parents. And so will we! These people matter to us and we see their faces when we look at the deep brown eyes of our son and the curly hair of our daughter.
When we first got involved in foster care we didn’t know adoption was in our future. We had to learn how to interact with the parents of our foster children in ways that were kind and honored them for the important role they played in their children’s lives. It wasn’t always easy, but now that those children are permanent members of our family, we’re thankful that we persevered. We can tell our children about the positive interactions we had with their first parents. We hope by being loving we have been able to keep the door open for relationships in the future that are beneficial for our kids and their biological families.
We have seen that whether kids are reunified with their parents or end up being adopted, the respect and dignity with which we treat these families should be the same. They are worthy of love simply because they are made in the image of God. And one of the greatest gifts we have been given is to have that love and compassion expressed back to us and our family by the biological parents of our children. When we treat each other as family, as equal in the eyes of our creator, that’s how we create a circle of love and stability around the children we all care so deeply for.