Foster care has been part of my life for many years, just not the way I imagined.

I watched a family close to me open their home to children who needed one. I was fortunate to love on their foster babies, spend holidays with them, and celebrate birthdays. I lent an ear when the love was hard and the system was harder. I watched them give four little ones a safe, steady, joyful home.

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Because of them, my family began to wonder if fostering might be part of our story too. Then an agency reached out, and we were open to welcoming a sweet newborn into our home.

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That meant real conversations with our kids about what it would mean to make room and what it would ask of them at their stages of life. They were part of our potential yes. It didn't unfold the way we'd hoped, and even with a family beside us who knew this world, we struggled to navigate the system.

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If it was that hard for a family who was willing and had people walking beside them, I can't stop thinking about the families who don't. Knowing what we hoped to give that sweet newborn and having seen what that family has given those little ones, is my why.