Foster Parents Anywhere?: Kinship Foster Care

I read an article that touched my heart this morning about a grandmother raising her grandchildren. ?She spoke of how much she loved her grandchildren but felt inwardly angry at the failure of her daughter to raise her own children. ?The article does not list the reason that the daughter is unable to care for her children but the most common reason is some sort of substance abuse. ?Kinship fostering occurs when a family member becomes the primary caregiver of another family member's children. ?Grandma can become a licensed foster parent and foster her own grandchildren. ?There are two interesting facts about kinship fostering. ?First, the State of Michigan has more kinship foster parents than general foster parents. ?Second, social workers always look to place an incoming foster child with a family member before for any other placements are considered.?

The social worker side of me could go on and on about statistics and kinship fostering, but today I am taking a good look at my own children and wondering. ?My kids are not ready for marriage or producing children on purpose. ?The mother inside of me hopes that they do all the steps in the right order that lead to a wonderful start for my future grandchildren. ?I want them to start a career, fall in love, get married, and then present me with fabulous grandchildren. ?I remind them of the proper order of events as often as I can.

However, life is messy and does not always follow the hoped for path. ?My best friend became a grandmother a lot earlier than she expected. ?Now she shares in the care of her precious grandson and worries about the future of her daughter. ?A neighbor just down the street from me is raising her four grandchildren because their mother is "unable". ? Another friend adopted her sisters three children when it became clear that the children needed a home. ?These people and situations are all around us. ?These people share many of the same challenges that other foster parents do, plus a few more. ?Some have given up peaceful retirement plans to return to raising children. ?I can only imagine the tangle of emotions that come with unexpectedly raising children again. ?Resentment, anger, love, responsibility, grief, all play a part in this decision. ?I admire these people and their willingness to put family first in their lives.

Kinship foster parents go through the same background checks and clearances that other foster parents do and receive financial help as part of the process. ? Some families formally adopt their family member's children and some do not. ?A very few go on to foster other children in the system. ?Grandparents and other family members ?who keep a family together are special people. ?

Would I take in my sister children? ?Could I raise my grandchildren if the situation arose? ?I know in my heart that I would but I also know it would not be an easy road. ?I would like to send out a cyber hug to those who choose family first and take this difficult road. ?

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Source: http://fosterparentsanywhere.blogspot.com/2012/10/kinship-foster-care.html

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