Foster Parenting: Maintaining Relationships After Reunification
At Wellpoint Care Network, the majority of children in our care are placed with kinship or foster families while our case managers work with their families to achieve stability by reducing or mitigating the safety factors that brought the family into care.
Our licensed foster parents provide children in their care with a safe and nurturing environment during this time. In most cases, the goal is for the child to return home to his or her biological family.
When considering becoming a foster parent, some worry about loving and nurturing a child and then having them return to their home.
Through our extensive training and support, we help foster parents understand their part in helping a family heal – a gift that will last a lifetime.
In many cases, biological families even maintain an informal relationship with their foster family, which can continue the bond for years to come.
Below is an example of what that relationship can be like.
“We had little M straight from being in the NICU 40 days. He was with us eight months, and dad worked diligently the entire time to obtain custody. He was a regular (often five times a week) at our house, as his route to work was near our home. We welcomed him, as what a better way to acclimate his son than to see his dad almost daily!
Fast forward to May 26 of this year. We truly thought we would never see M again. Quite the opposite. Dad has used us for respite several times and we were honored to host his first birthday party this past weekend.
It truly was amazing to bring two families together and bond so deeply.
Dad keeps saying that he is so blessed that we are in their lives. No, we are truly the ones that are blessed. Smashing down race barriers and foster vs. biological family barriers is so amazing and rewarding.
*This* is why we are foster parents!”
Aside from being foster parents, the family who shared this story has also adopted several children. They also stay in touch with those families.
“We are huge proponents of working with bio parents, no matter what the outcome.”
With three blended families, they admit that holidays can be “interesting.”
“There is a standing invitation, so they know they always have a place to come on the holidays. Unfortunately, all (literally 100%) of all the children we have fostered have had parents in foster care as well. So, to have a ‘real’ and steady family to embrace them was new at first, but now standard.
I am so delighted that our families have embraced them into our lives.
I can totally see M and his dad attending our holidays this upcoming year. He does have a supportive family, but as they said on Saturday, ‘We are all family now.’”
YOU can make a difference.
We need families and individuals from all backgrounds, cultures and family structures to represent the diverse range of children who need safe and supportive homes.
Learn how to become a foster parent today.
