Watching
Them Mature and Grow is Reward Enough
When
we became foster parents of special needs teenage girls, we did not
intend ever to adopt. Then you learn to accept these
girls for their
strengths and weaknesses and work with them and for them just as any
biological parent would hope to do.
These
children then begin to grow in your heart and you want to become that
forever family they have always
wished for.
My
best advice to families considering both foster parenting and/or adopting
is that the rewards you will receive from watching them mature and
grow in a loving family
will
far outweigh any sacrifices you have made.
Geoff and Amy C.
A Very Special Bond
My
daughter Alyson is adopted and so very special to me. The first time
I held her in my arms, I claimed her for
my very
own. She weighed just under five pounds and was slightly premature.
I could not hold her, love her, or spoil her enough.
Today she
is a beautiful
caring
young woman, and we share a very close bond. She has another family
too. A mother who cared enough not to have an abortion and wanted to
give
her a better start in life. Her father and grandparents also knew
about her.
We think of them sometimes even today and wonder if we are ever in
their thoughts.
I wish
for Alyson's sake that the adoption had not been a closed
one, but most adoptions during this time period were closed. When
Alyson was about 12 to 13 years old she began to wonder about her other
family.
Early efforts to locate her biological mother were unsuccessful.
However,
she gains comfort from her mother's parting words to her, "Be
safe my little bird, I love you."
Phyllis
