Celebrating Foster Care Agency 10 Year Anniversary! #2 of 10
You know the heart of how we began, started the agency, built the Rose Hill Cottages…..now what was all of that for? To help children and families in crisis so………drum roll please! In May of 2009, with 3 families licensed we accepted our first 3 children into care: a new born baby girl and brother and sister siblings 5 and 7 years old. When we work with families to get licensed, one of the things we discuss is the age range of children they feel comfortable with, and how many they will be licensed for.
At this time in the agency, I was the case manager and received a call for a newborn baby! Our licensor called Liaza Nunn (a single parent of a teenage son) and said, “We have a newborn baby girl who needs a home.” She and I consulted before the call was made (but it literally flew out of our minds that she wanted school age children). When she received the call it also flew out of her mind she wanted school age children and she immediately said “Yes!” She and I drove to Seattle Childrens, after quickly procuring an infant car seat, diapers, onesie’s etc. to pick up this beautiful baby girl (thank God she had a crib). I’ll never forget Liaza riding out of the hospital in the wheelchair with baby G in her arms and me pulling the car up to the curb. After several minutes of Liaza trying to get the baby in the car seat – I took over (I had small grandchildren at the time- so I remembered how), put the baby in, and Liaza insisted I sit in the back while we road home. I told her “If you need anything, just call day or night” as I lived a few houses over. Well, we often laughed about the fact that “call” she did, and we both went through the shock of awakening multiple times during the night and being sleep deprived. To this day we wonder “what were we thinking?” Liaza did an amazing job raising and nurturing baby G until she was three years old, making sure she knew her family. It was truly a tearful day when Liaza, her son and baby G had to part.
Our second placement, later that same week was with a family of 4: Darrin, Sheri, and 2 sons 9 and 7. I received a call for a brother and sister who needed placement. Again, what can I say it flew out of my mind that they wanted children 0-4 years old, but graciously accepted and didn’t even mention anything about the age. They were wonderful foster parents, but of course sibling rivalry kicked into high gear! The agency supported them through the placement and everyone made it! We learned so much, but our agency and foster parents – loved so much! Darrin and Sheri were faithful and great first fruits as foster parents. Darin continues to support City Ministries through his business TS Associates, keeping our IT on point.
We laughed a lot, cried together and stood by each other as we learned to care for children in the foster care system and work with the state and biological parents and everyone else involved – and trust me there are a lot of stakeholders involved.
The first year was a whirlwind with more children coming into care, and much more. Stay tuned.
