I stared at an email from our social worker stating that my husband, Gerritt, and I would not be approved as foster parents in the province of Nova Scotia. Our case would instead be deferred until we sought professional counseling. That was in 2013. Later we learned that we required further scrutiny, but it wasn’t …
Adoption
Setting up for an evening training, I looked forward to sharing the impact of foster care and adoption on the biological children in the family. As the participants entered the classroom, I was stunned at who they were. Yet, the group looked like a room full of empty nesters. Overall, I was expecting young couples …
Inside a Foster Home: The Real Story Several years ago, I was given this blessing, “May you be covered by the dust of Jesus.” The quizzical look on my face prompted the pastor to explain his blessing to me.It was a contemporary version of an ancient Hebrew phrase, “In the Dust of the Rabbi.” The …
Elisha sat across from me in a booth at a local restaurant, as we talked about the impact of foster care on her biological children. “Why is my six-year-old daughter, Alise behaving just like my new foster daughter, Sara, who is four? She is throwing tantrums and now is quite oppositional and defiant, just like …
Can an abortion fail? Yes, it can. Learn more from a true life story.
Disability rights movement is a civil rights movement advocating for those with disabilities to have equal rights.
Navigating an adoptive mother’s heart is an emotional journey. Regardless of whether the foster-to-adopt child has contact with their birth family, the mother’s heart will be emotional. When a woman gives her heart to a child in foster care, generally, she keeps a protective layer that prevents her from fully bonding with the child because …
Three-year-old Jake walked into the garage where his foster dad worked on a wood project. The loud sounds of sounds and hammering filled the garage. Almost immediately, Jake became agitated, putting his little hands over his ears. Jake noticed an old pair of earmuffs on the workbench, walked over to them, reached up, and put …
While attending a pro-life conference earlier this year, I listened to a lecture on adopting children from a different race. The two presenters were talking about a term they called “transracial adoption.” To my surprise, much of the presentation consisted of the two white women explaining, to a predominantly white audience, why it was concerning …
This article explains the difference between bonding and attachment, how attachment relates to forming healthy relationships, and what parents can do to foster secure attachment for healthy growth and development.
How do you know who you are? For many, the definitions of identity we build inside ourselves are created from our experiences. Charity Gayle wrote a song, “There is a New Name Written Down in Glory,” saying, “I am who I am because the I Am tells me who I am.” The question for many …
One way that we create order out of our unknowns is by sorting things into categories. Humans seek to find the connections between seemingly unrelated items. While this may work for kitchen organization, it can fall very short when looking at children, behaviors, and relationships. We tend to build buckets where we put things we …
I sit down at the computer, an empty screen in front of me. It’s time to write about the love of adoptive siblings, I tell myself, that deadline is soon approaching. I shuffle through old e-mails and find the prompt. “We’d love for you to write a bit about the call of siblings to love well in …
“I knew I would be sad; I didn’t expect to be this angry and resentful towards my child,” a parent recounts as they try navigating grief in their foster to adopt family. It’s common for me to sit with parents who are tearful and angry during and after their foster-to-adopt journey. As a foster parent, …
My husband and I are starting the path of foster care and adoption. Growing up in foster care and kinship care, it is something I always knew I wanted to do. It was one of the first things we talked about when we started dating. And I knew he was “a keeper” when his response …
It’s so exciting! “Gotcha Day” is finally here. We are finally a family that is undisrupted by caseworkers and court dates. For most adoptive parents, this is a day they have looked forward to for a long time. It can be a celebration for family and friends who have known about the adoption journey. Some …
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Within three months, the Blacklidge Family gained three children in foster care. After many years of changing case plans, those three children joined the Blacklidge Family forever.
Children who have been in foster care, like Susie were wounded most in the context of interpersonal relationships, and they will heal only in the context of healthy, nurturing, interpersonal relationships.
Welcome, you! We wish we could chat with you over coffee about what brought you here … Maybe the journey of adoption has been on your mind since you were a child. Maybe you just started thinking about it and want to learn more. Maybe you’re already a foster parent and want to move toward adoption. Maybe …
