by Courtney Woodruff
This post is sponsored by Catholic Community Services. Call Catholic Community Services at 253-999-9144 and start your road to discovering where you fit into the foster care story.
“I’m not sure we can do this,” I confess to our foster care program manager over the phone. We have been licensed for all of three days, and I’m already second-guessing our family’s ability to be everything a child needs when we receive our first placement.
Even though our hearts, minds, and rooms are prepared, it has been a particularly hectic week caring for our two school-age children, working full-time, and juggling the demands of my husband’s active duty military career. I feel simultaneously overwhelmed by our to-do list and guilty about bringing another child into a our less-than-ideal lifestyle.
The director assures me a little bit of panic is completely normal. I would guess it’s something like gathering up the courage to climb up to the highest diving board and then looking down at the final moment to realize just how deep and far away the water is.
As I hang up the phone and set off to tackle the day’s agenda, the weight of the words she leaves me with settle into my stomach: It’s important to do what’s best for your family. I frown as I realize what’s best is often not ideal.
The same afternoon, we receive the call we’ve been waiting for: “There’s a newborn that needs placement. It’s okay to say no, but I want it to be your choice.”
“We can take them!” I respond without hesitation, surprising myself.
Knowing next to nothing about the case, I pick up a baby boy from the hospital the following morning. He is tiny, hungry, and beautiful beyond belief. As I look into his face for the first time, the trauma and loss he is going through is not lost on me. It occurs to me ideal is not an option for this child, and I release a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. What he needs most is love, care, and safety – and a wave of relief washes over me as I realize our family can certainly give him these necessities.
In the first week, every need we have is filled, plus some. We pick up onesies, swaddle blankets, and even a few cans of formula from a local clothing bank; friends drop off diapers and bring baby equipment for us to borrow, and colleagues round up a meal train for our family. A few items on our to-do list are left unchecked, but we survive.
We are exhausted yet rejuvenated and inspired by the community of support that has rallied around us overnight. When we offer up our meager fish and loaves, they truly are multiplied in beautiful, mysterious ways.
It turns out, not only can we do this, but we can do it with gratitude and joy – how thankful we are to have this baby boy in our life!
And if we can do this, I assure you – you can, too.
Do you feel called to Foster Care? Call Catholic Community Services today at 253-999-9144 or visit us online.
