My First Foster Care Call

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

This morning as I was getting ready for work I KNEW God was telling me that I would have a child in my home tonight. I felt him saying "Make the guest bed...get those dishes out the sink...don't forget to sweep, etc". I only halfway listened to him and only did a few of those things because honestly I was just ready to get to work and frankly I was starting to feel like I would never get any placement calls.

I knew I should have listened when I missed two calls in the middle of a staff retreat today. My heart beat a little faster when I saw the unfamiliar number go across my caller ID. I abruptly left the room where all the staff were meeting and ran to the nearest bathroom. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I chose to go into the bathroom to take this call, the hallway would have sufficed!

Anyways, I am standing in the bathroom hearing a placement worker tell me about a little girl. She told me about her demographics, trauma experiences and behaviors but the only thing I heard was "She needs a place to stay tonight". I said yes.

Fast forward about an hour later, I am rushing home to make the guest bed, get the dishes out the sink, sweep, etc. I should have listened to God the first time, but He was so graceful and I was ready in time for her arrival. I even had time to diffuse lavender oil in her bedroom!

The girl, who I will call Sarah (not her real name) came out of the car.She had been waiting in the DCS office until I could get off of work and she hadn't eaten since 1 pm. It was 6:45 pm.

After going through a packet of paperwork with the caseworker, she left me and said to call if I had any questions. I had this weird feeling of wanting the caseworker to leave so that I could "start" being a foster parent and at the same time wanting her to stay because if she left it would all become very real.

So fast forward to this moment. I am sitting in my bed at 12am writing this blog. I can barely keep my eyes open because I have tried to be fully present with a pre-teen for the past few hours which is a challenge for a single introvert parent. We went out for Chinese food (her choice) and nail supplies. We also watched Mako Mermaids and talked about school! I learned about her love of Greek mythology and clothes.

There is so much to write but as I mentioned I am literally dozing off as I type this. I do want to say thank you for my friends whose prayers and encouragement have led me to this point! God has sent his angels to this earth in the form of friends!