I was thinking this afternoon about those who would fit the bill for the kind of foster care/adoption we do.
My husband is 61 years old and I'm 50. We've almost finishing rearing our first 8 biological children. Emily is 14 years old and the way time has hurtled past with the 7 siblings before her, she'll be graduating and going to college before we know it.
We came into the foster care business late. In designing our personal profile we purposely chose to do medical issues rather than behavioral. Teenagers scare me to death. I can feel at a loss and off kilter when staring into the face of a child who is the same size if not bigger than I am, who's posture says they think I'm *so last century*. Who doesn't feel inclined to do what I've asked them sweetly, then demanded they do. Getting the eye roll and sighs of disgust have been known to make me feel helpless. God knows, I've spent hours and hours praying because of having children who don't think I'm the brightest bulb in the bunch and have reasoned their opinion trumps my own.
But, I digress.
We, as parents, and given my heart for hospice, specifically asked to be a foster home for kiddos with a life limiting prognosis or terminal diagnosis. I am addicted to babies. Love them to pieces. Older kids who look at me and would like to be entertained by me, nah, they're scary too.
We have only had babies so far but are willing to take in a 14 year old who might be in a residential facility but has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. This child might be a teenager but most likely by the time they'd come live with us, they wouldn't be sneaking out the basement windows and looking for, or causing trouble which could cause what's left of Mark's fringe of hair to turn loose or mine to finally go completely gray.
You may be in a season of your life where signing up to raise a child for a natural lifetime isn't feasible. You just don't have the energy or time left in your own life to do that. But! You might be perfect to invest deeply in a child's life which is anticipated to be brief. Investing deeply but holding loosely. Making all the difference between the child having a life which was lived and one which might have only been survived.
The kinds of kiddos we've asked to be considered for by our social workers, may be exactly what you're looking for too!
