Foster Care Rewards & Struggles

I am so tired I cant wait for bed tonight. I spent most of the day at the ER with our little foster child. Coming home knowing she was hospitalized was tough. My responsibility and heart was with my kids at home and I missed them dearly after being gone all day. I still can't help feeling bad for leaving a little girl all night without me. The poor little thing has been through a truly rough day. I hope you will keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.
People often ask if its hard doing foster care? To be honest, yes sometimes it is. Its hard to care for a child as if their your own and then return home. But to be honest that is the best reward a foster parent can have. To know you made the difference in the life of a family or a child. Sometimes kids are tough, sometimes parents are. Sometimes its at know ones fault. You see people think of foster care as bad parents or kids in trouble. That's not always true. Sometimes a parent is ill or hospitalized. Sometimes a housing crisis or job loss. I try and treat every child as if they are my own children. I treat them the way I would hope someone would care for my child and love them.
Sometimes a child leaves and you never see them again. You wonder what ever happened. You pray their ok. Sometimes you see them or they find you. Those are the stories that make it all with while. What they or their families probably don't know is that each and every one of them has impacted our life in someway too. We never forget them either.
Hold your family dear and cherish every day. Good night all.