http://mymcmlife.com/2012/08/02/a-year-of-foster-parenting-sort-of/ musings on a life inspired by art, faith and family Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:19:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mymcmlife.com/2012/08/02/a-year-of-foster-parenting-sort-of/#comment-3170 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:19:01 +0000 http://mymcmlife.com/?p=6559#comment-3170 my parents are foster carers in australia so there is really not really any adoption however there is long term guardianship orders. my parents are the long term guardians of a little boy who they have had since they picked him up from hospital as a newborn. he has a number of siblings placed in different situations – some in kinship placements, some with carers and little siblings who live with his biological mum. he has met all but one of his siblings who lives interstate. i believe at this stage in his life his family dynamics appear much more complicated to us as adults then they do for him. for him it is just his family. he has my parents three bilogical children (including me) as his siblings as well as a number of other siblings and two mums and one dad and to him it is normal. at this moment in his life (he is seven) it is about spending time with people who love him, playing with other children and having fun. i believe in the future this informal network and his knowledge from a young age of his family will support him as he gets older and has questions about why he is in care, why he is not with his biological mum etc. i believe the normality my parents have developed for him and his contact with family will help him to see it as just the way his family is and nothing that he can’t question or discuss and considering the number of ways a family can be formed in this era his probably won’t be that unusual. i think you do have to be aware of protecting the child if there are any issues in relation to the ongoing contact, the emotional toll or if people are unreliable however it’s about weighing up the future benefits of having that knowledge of where they fit within both your family, their biological family and the world. sorry for such a long post. hope it makes sense. i guess what i believe is if they are wanting contact and contact is going ok it can very beneficial to continue to support little people to know their families. sorry if there are spelling mistakes i wrote this very quickly.

]]> http://mymcmlife.com/2012/08/02/a-year-of-foster-parenting-sort-of/#comment-3019 Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:53:30 +0000 http://mymcmlife.com/?p=6559#comment-3019 Oh I wish I was there. That sounds like a great get together. I will be praying for Ladybug this week. I know how hard it is.

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