Fostering experience

Entry into the Foster Care Experiences Contest. (Non-Fiction)


Experience with fostering:

Three years ago my step-mom and I decided to volunteer at out churches home for abandoned babies. It was a way for us to give back to the community because we live a very privileged life. However we did not realize exactly how privileged our lives would become in the end.

And so we started coming on the weekend and spending time with the babies. Being so young we couldn’t do much except for feeding them and cuddling them. Some of the older ones we were able to sit with and read too or play with the plastic and plush toys.

I’m not going to lie and say it was easy because at first it was hard. We live in a country ravaged by AIDS and all these babies were a result of parents who had either died of AIDS or had left the children due to the disease. It was heartbreaking to see them coming in so young. The worst was that it was as if thy seemed to realize what had happened to them. So refused to take the bottle, others lay around numbly with tears leaking from their eyes but never crying. I couldn’t believe people could just abandon such helpless, innocent children. Yet, in some cases, they had no choice.

After a few months of working we began to get into a routine and started to bond with some of the babies. One in particular was a little colored boy with huge hazelnut eyes and an infectious laugh. He used to follow me wherever I went, wiggling along the floor on his stomach a grinning away. There was something about him that just touched us.

My step-mom and I began to take more interest in fostering, especially since she couldn’t have children due to having cancer a few years back. The more we thought about it and discussed it the more the idea appealed to us. And so I worked on my brother and she worked on my dads, both who were reluctant. I can’t blame my dad because he already had two children in their teens and had no need for another child. My brother was comfortable with our plush life ad reluctant to sacrifice the money it would cost to take on the child.

Well, that was three years ago and the rest is history. When my dad and brother started to spend time with this little angel they feel in love with him too. The process was long and hard because we are a white family and they were reluctant to give him to a family of a different race even though we could provide him with a wonderful home. But my parents never gave up and were willing to do anything for him.

I’ll never forget the day my step-mom and I went to fetch him and bring him home. His room was all set out and we had a brand new car seat for him. We both cried with joy when they handed him over and we buckled him into the car with his only possessions being a raggedy doll he had bonded with.

This little boy has been with us for about two years and all I can say is that he has changed our family. He has united us and brought a joy I never thought possible. Everyday I wait for him to come bounding onto the bed and snuggle under the covers with me, chatting in his little bird language.

Bringing him into our house was the best thing we could ever do even though some of us were reluctant. To me he is my brother, no matter his race or blood lines. And I love him as if he were my own child.