Class 1

I think I'm going to do a weekly summary of our MS-MAPP classes.  (the classes we are doing to become certified to be foster parents)  I think this will be good for me to remember the things that stuck out to me and also good for friends or family who are apart of our lives during foster care. 

First off, I think we're lucky, one of our teachers is a Foster Mom.  She's been doing this for I think 8 years  She's funny and has lots of experience.  She is a true advocate for foster children.  I love her already!  She's going to be a great resource for us.

The whole reason why Howard and I are doing Foster Care is because we are hoping it will lead to adoption.  BUT because we're signing up as Foster Parents our goal needs to be reunification with the parents.  In the back of my mind, I thought...whatever, these children need to stay with me.  My house is better than where they came from.  Um, judgemental much???  That is seriously the wrong way to think...that is the most important lesson I learned that last night.  Now there are cases where its not the best case scenario to go back to their families...and in this case, I would hope we'd adopt them.  But the foster mom said last night that she had a foster child for 3 years and it took 3 years for the birth mom, who had been a Meth user for 10 years to get clean.  During those 3 years she everything she could to get better for her daughter.  That story opened my eyes and my heart.

We learned about cases that were heart wrenching...it is amazing what some of these children have to go through.  It is so unfair!  Just thinking about it, brings tears to my eyes.  And for that reason, we're even more dedicated to becoming advocates for these children. 

This first class was super dry...talked about a lot of laws.  But the good news is, it didn't scare us away! haha