I have often said that foster care is the ultimate team sport.  If you're going to win, you've got to have a cohesive team.  This is really true for every caregiver. You need a deep bench to show up when the game gets tough.  

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In my experience, extraordinary caregiving is rarely what you expect it to be.  Let's be real.  Roses and rainbows and cheers and hoorays accompanied our highest hopes and sweetest dreams for fostering, adopting, or caring for a loved one.  It sounded so amazing, so heroic, so fulfilling, all-in-all just the right thing to do.  But no one ever mentioned the scary dark valleys and crazy deep pits along the way -- the exhaustion, the discouragement, the overwhelm, even the flat-out rejection. Who knew that love really is NOT enough for some of these kids?  How is it that the loving hand that raised you may become the one who treats you with such disdain as their mind begins to fade and darkness creeps in?  Why is it so hard for others to be supportive or at least try to understand what your family is going through?  

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This was me.  This was my family.  This has been my story more than once.  Foster kids with massive trauma. Adopted children with major attachment issues. Special needs that we never faced before. Bio kids overwhelmed and frustrated. Elderly parents in need of care for things we didn't see coming.  I've worn the rose-colored glasses and dreamed the lofty dreams.  I've also struggled through dark valleys and slipped into those pits.  I've hunted for resources, for help, for answers.  Sometimes I found them. Many times, I did not.  So I became a student, an advocate, a learner, a researcher, a warrior mom on a mission to help my own family, my kids, myself.  And in the process, I began to help others too. 

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This is where the team comes in. This is where we come in.  Let us come alongside, hear your story, build that game plan, cheer you on, process losses, celebrate those victories.

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Teamwork -- that's how we win.  

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