11/28/2025
A Human Perspective that is often overlooked, The reason is that Adoption and Foster Care have become corporate/government entities for profit. The heart of fostering a child was meant for neighbors, family and community. Let's build that neighbor, family and community to encourage and keep foster care human.
One thing I will never get used to is how the system treats foster parents like we are just here to keep a child fed and clean until they figure out what to do next.
We are expected to love these kids like our own, but we are treated like temporary babysitters.
We comfort them through panic attacks.
We teach them how to sleep again after nightmares.
We show up at school when they break down.
We sit through hours of therapy.
We fight for services.
We advocate for their safety when no one else will.
Yet when decisions are made, we are often left out as if we are not the ones doing the daily work that keeps these kids afloat.
The system will ask us to pour everything into a child.
But when it is time to discuss their future, we are told to stay in our place.
We are told we are “just the foster parent.”
We are told our perspective is “emotional,” as if that is a bad thing.
We are told our experience is not as important as someone who sees the child once a month for an hour.
It is insulting.
And it is harmful.
No one knows a child better than the person who tucks them into bed, wipes their tears, attends their appointments, watches their behaviors, and carries the weight of their trauma every single day.
Foster parents are not place holders.
We are not background characters.
We are part of the child’s healing.
We are part of their stability.
We are part of their safety.
If the system actually cared about what is best for these kids, it would stop sidelining the people who know them best and start listening to the voices that see the full picture.
Children deserve adults who work together, not adults who ignore the ones doing the real work.
