 Welcome back to Taylor Talks! Wow, this week has just flown by! Another week of school is over for my siblings, which meant another week filled with pretty imaginative reasons for why the kids should be able to stay home instead of going to classes. It also means another week of new experiences here in Florida. For example, as I type (in my room with the door shut), my mom and my aunt's best friend (who came over for Chinese Food Friday) are in the living room trying to catch a lizard that came in for some cupcakes... yikes! I liked holding the little guy outside, but do not come into our house!! That reminds me, twice now, I have had lizards hitchhiking on my car. The other day, I saw it in my side mirror. I opened the window to take a picture of it (a picture of the mirror reflecting the lizard on the back door) but then the lizard came right up to the window! Luckily my sister got out of the passenger seat and went around to get the lizard away. I flipped out and jumped from the driver's seat into the passenger seat and got out that door! Then today I saw a lizard actually sitting on the side mirror, hanging on for a ride... it's crazy how many lizards are down here! So now it's Foster Parent Friday again, and tonight we are hearing from a new foster mom named Renae. While she hasn't been a foster mom for very long, she was willing to share her thoughts on foster care and what the past few months have been like for her family. How long have you been a foster parent? "3 months." Do you do respite, short-term, or long-term care? "Long-term." How many children have you taken in over that period of time? "2." Do you limit your care to a certain age group? If so, what ages do you take in? "[We have an] age limit between 2 and 8." Have you ever adopted any children? If so, how many? "No, but we hope to adopt the 2 currently in our care." Did you have any biological children when you started foster care? If so, how many? How old were they at the time? "[We have] no bio children." What were your biggest concerns as you started your foster care journey? "[We had] no concerns when we started." What is the biggest lesson you learned from being a foster parent? "Don't sweat the small stuff." Is there anything you would change about your experience as a foster parent? "Not a thing." Do you have any words of wisdom for future or new foster parents? "It will be harder than any amount of training can prepare you for, but [it] is totally worth it! The kids are shaped by their experiences and it is hard to remember that in the heat of the moment, but as long as you try your best you will get there. Use every support you have and don't be scared to ask for help when you need it." It's so great that Renae mentioned the fact that it's "totally worth it" to be part of a foster family. I wrote last night about the fact that there are so many negative connotations with foster care, and it's such a shame because the overall experience of helping foster children is such a rewarding and positive journey.
Are you a foster parent who is interested in doing an interview for Foster Parent Fridays? Send me a message through my Contact page and I'll give you the details! I'm looking forward to sharing more interviews in the future to showcase the perspectives of other foster parents! Thank you so much for your continued support! I look forward to sharing more stories about my experience with foster care, and hopefully hearing from readers who have questions or similar stories to share. I'm always willing to answer questions and hear about other experiences! Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page as well! I’d greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you’re sharing on Twitter, don’t forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks. Thanks! Taylor
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My family has been doing foster care since I was three years old. I'm the only biological child in my family, though I now have five permanent siblings. Having nineteen siblings over the course of my lifetime has been an incredible experience, and I'm hoping that by sharing some of the ups and downs of being the only bio kid in a foster family, other foster families or people looking into doing foster care will be able to learn a bit of what life can be like. I also like to share what life is like on my journey to becoming a published author, as well as where my schooling and career choice are taking me.
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