Being a foster parent is often described as both a rewarding and life-changing experience. However, it's just as important to be well-prepared for welcoming foster care kids into your home.
Research and Education
Before diving into foster parenting, it’s important to take the time to research and understand the foster care system. While there are many similarities from state to state, there are also many unique differences! We encourage you to educate yourself on the following:
- Requirements
- Expectations
- Available Supports for Foster Parents (State Services, Foster Parents Associations, through a foster care agency)
- Continuing Education Opportunities
Assess Your Motivation
At Nightlight Christian Adoptions, we encourage our foster parents to ask the “why” question. Why do I want to become a foster parent? Reflecting on your motivation to foster and how fostering will fit into your life is important in being prepared for the emotional challenges and time commitment of fostering those from hard places. In our experience, understanding and remembering your “why” will help you stay motivated and committed in the day-to-day of fostering hope and healing in your home.
Meet Legal and Practical Requirements
The process of becoming a foster parent includes much paperwork and documentation. Our foster care team at Nightlight Christian Adoptions will help you every step of the way in making sure your home meets agency and state safety standards.
Prepare Your Home
In anything from having a room that a foster child can call his own – to having tasty snacks in the pantry – to making sure all medications are locked away, saying “yes” to being a foster parent involves creating both a welcome and safe home environment. We at Nightlight Christian Adoptions love to work alongside our foster parents as they prepare their home for children from hard places.
Attend Training and Workshops
Our hope at Nightlight Christian Adoptions is to set our foster parents up for success on their foster care journey. This includes required initial and continued education on topics like trauma-informed parenting, behavior management, and understanding foster children's needs. At Nightlight Christian Adoptions, we will ensure that you have access to all required education, as well as offer additional resources to help you be as trauma informed as possible.
Connect with Support Networks
At Nightlight Christian Adoptions, we strongly encourage our foster parents to join a support group. We also offer our own virtual support group for foster parents! These groups have been known to provide invaluable support, as well as a sense of community with those who are in your shoes. It might take an hour out of your month, but that hour gives back two-fold in your day-to-day of being a foster parent.
Develop Patience and Flexibility
Foster parenting comes with its own unique challenges, unknowns, and uncertainties. Patience, flexibility, and teachability are three of the most sought-after characteristics in a foster parent. While we wish it were different, foster care (and life) does not always go as planned. It will be important to emotionally prepare yourself for the ups and downs of foster parenting prior to welcoming a child into your home.
Communicate with Your Friends and Family
If you haven’t already, we encourage you to discuss your decision to become a foster parent with your friends and family. Foster care takes a village, so ensuring that everyone is on board and prepared for the changes that fostering will bring is vital to your success as a foster parent. It is also important to have open and honest conversation to address any concerns or fears that those in your life may need to voice out loud.
Plan for Self-Care
At times, foster parenting can be quite demanding both physically and emotionally. In addition to having a support system that can step in when needed and available, it will be essential to prioritize self-care throughout any given week to avoid unnecessary burn out or compassion fatigue.
Prepare for the Unexpected
No matter how well-prepared you are, foster parenting can be full of surprises! At Nightlight Christian Adoptions, we encourage our foster parents to be prepared for the unexpected, as well as to approach challenges with patience, flexibility, and teachability. Those who have gone before you are here for you! You’re not alone in the unexpected, or in the challenges, of foster parenting.
Becoming a foster parent is a big decision! We hope the ten steps outlined above will help you be more prepared as you start your foster care journey.