Foster Parent Blog

By Sometimes MomFollow her on Instagram @sometimes_mom The holiday season is often thought of as a time of giving which means many people are donating toys to children and families in need. Some of these toys may go to children in foster care. If you have donated Christmas presents to children in foster care, thank you! Foster kids should be able to experience the magic of Christmas morning just like anyone other child, but there are things that foster children need much more than toys and that’s FOSTER PARENTS! If the image of a child having no gifts to open on...

By Sometimes MomFollow her on Instagram @sometimes_mom Thinking back to Thanksgiving Eve 2021, I’m traveling with my husband and current foster son (out-of-state-travel letter in tow) to visit my in-laws in New York. I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving, it has never been my favorite holiday. The traditional meal relies far too heavily on vegetables for my liking. Plus, I’ve spent my entire adult life working in the retail industry, effectively killing my holiday spirit. But Thanksgiving, specifically, holds a bittersweet place in my heart. Two years ago, on this day, we said goodbye to our first long term foster placement....

By Sometimes MomFollow her on Instagram @sometimes_mom I turned 30 this month, a milestone birthday that I was lucky enough to celebrate with family and friends as well as our foster son. The little guy that’s with us now, marks the tenth foster child I have parented by age 30.  Of those ten foster children, we have been able to celebrate birthdays with 5 of them. And because we never know how long a child will be with us, and because frankly, they deserve it, we always try to make their birthdays extra special. We throw a party for each foster...

By Sometimes MomFollow her on Instagram @sometimes_mom As summer comes to an end, I hope everyone was able to enjoy some R&R. Traditionally, R&R stands for rest and relaxation (or recreation) but for foster parents, the key word is respite. Since finding childcare for a foster child isn’t as easy as just hiring a babysitter, often, other foster parents are called on to provide respite care. Foster parents (at least in Massachusetts) are offered a certain number of hours of respite. Respite might be needed if a foster parent is traveling and can’t take the child with them, they become ill...

By Sometimes MomFollow her on Instagram @sometimes_mom Everyone knows it takes a village to raise a child. It’s a cliche as old as time and while often used figuratively, it comes from a time when we literally raised our children in villages. The fragmented and often isolating way we raise children today is a far cry from the villages of our ancestors. But there’s one thing our ancestors didn’t have, the internet. More specifically, Instagram.When I started my @sometimes_mom Instagram account, I thought I had a unique story to tell. As I began following tons of other foster moms (and some foster...