We were not meant to journey this road alone.

Foster parenting is not for the weak, it's honestly one of the hardest jobs I've ever done.

And you know what makes it hard?

It's not the one million appointments.

It's not the daily logs and the incident reports.

It's not remember to take the form with you to the dentist and the doctor.

It's not even the navigating biological family relationships.

It's the fact that no one outside of the club gets it.

Tell someone you're a foster parent and their first response is always...

"Oh my goodness, you're so amazing. I could never do that."

Tell someone you're struggling and their first response is usually...

"Well you could just stop fostering and focus on your kids."

And so we tend to just not talk about it.

Not ask for help.

Stop sharing the hard parts.

We don't want to be looked at as a hero, because quite frankly we feel anything but a hero.

We don't want to be told to stop, because this feels like our calling.

And then something that shouldn't feel lonely. Shouldn't be overwhelming. Suddenly is.

Over 400,000 kids in foster care in the US. I don't know what that works out to in terms of foster parents, but I'm going to guess a lot.

We aren't alone in this journey.

We aren't the only ones who feel the way we do.

We struggle with the things we're struggling with.

I’m glad that you found this page. I hope you will find hope along your journey. I hope you feel less alone. I know you find renewed strength to keep showing up. Keep saying yes. Keep going.

You got this!