Vol. 5, No. 1 Fall 2000
Debunking
Some Foster Care Myths
by
Becky Burmester
Foster Parent's Perspective
There must be some magical aspects
to the word �foster.� To care is to possess a wonderful quality, but
to be involved in some way with �foster care� paints a variety of negative
word pictures. Foster parents are considered weird or strangely good.
Foster children are considered somehow less than children. By some stretch
of logic foster children are supposed to feel lucky to be in a good
foster home.
There are foster care facts that
debunk the myths. Foster families are not extraordinary. Our family
of four is quite ordinary. Our two children grew up sharing their Mom
and Dad with children who, through no fault of their own, had to spend
time away from their birth families. Children in foster care are neither
strange nor weird. The 68 young children who have shared our home were
individuals with very different personalities, but each was a very typical
baby.
Children placed in out-of-home care
are not lucky. They have little or no control of their lives. Others
with limited knowledge of them as individuals make decisions that could
affect the rest of
their lives. Nearly every child in foster care would prefer to be reunified
with his or her birth family. Roots are important, even if those roots
are not fully functional.
Look at the pictures that accompany
this article. Can you pick out the �normal� families from the �foster�
families? Which pictures are of �foster� kids? Which pictures are of
�normal� kids? Funny
how everyone looks �normal�!
We are!!!