Our biological daughter grew up with teenage foster brothers in our home. This allowed her to have siblings and now she is an Aunt to so many of their children. It has expanded her understanding of trauma and has led her to be a influence in many of her peers lives.
Foster Parent Therapeutic Foster Care
My mom and dad were worried about how having a foster sibling would affect me, but I am glad that fear of the unknown didn’t stop them. My foster brother blended right into our family when he came to live with us. He was younger than me which I think was helpful because my role in our family changed. I was no longer the youngest. It taught me to be more responsible and more of a role model. I thought of fostering as an adventure because I didn’t know what to expect, but nothing really major changed in our family when he came to live with us except we became stronger and spent more time together. I also learned that he had a very different type of life than I did, and I felt sad that he couldn’t be with his sisters, brothers, and his mom. He missed them a lot, so I tried to be the best brother I could to help him feel safe. The time we spent together and the relationship we built helped me realize that helping others is an important part of life. After 6 months, he got to go back to his family which was hard but happy. We still talk and joke around on Facetime, and I think we always will.
Jack, age 14 Therapeutic Foster Care
Our initial intent was to bring teenagers into our home to enrich their lives, what we didn’t expect was that they would enrich our lives in so many ways.
Foster Parent Therapeutic Foster Care
Most of the young men who resided with us had your typical adolescent issues. Once they were able to be feel comfortable in our home, we could address the trauma they had experienced and help them to achieve their goals.
Foster Parent Therapeutic Foster Care
Overall the years of being a foster parent to teenagers has been a positive and enriching experience, a choice that I am very glad that we made. The impact on all of our lives, including the biological families, our extended families, the youth in our home and us has been more than I could have imagined. The positive interactions outweigh the negative many times over.
Foster Parent Therapeutic Foster Care
