Our First Foster Parenting Class

"Meet Jacob, an adorable little boy who is in search of a home. He is developmentally delayed because of a cyst on his brain but has made significant progress in his current foster home. Jacob is beginning to play with toys and likes things with solid colors. He really likes to play with small animals. He loves to attend school and looks forward to his bus ride every morning. Jacob is now eating table foods and he loves French Fries but hates rice. He is not yet potty-trained but is learning the basics." - A listing on Adoption.com

We attended our first Foster parent class on Saturday. It was an all day class that lasted from 8:30 to 4:30. The majority of the class was a question and answer session. There were about 40 people in the class, most of which were there to become foster parents for a child they were related to. There were only 5 couples (including us) that were there to learn about adoption and what they called "general applicant foster parents" which means we were looking to become foster parents without a specific child in mind. One thing that was very apparent from the class is that the State of Oregon's main objective is to reunite all children with their biological parents. If an offending parent can demonstrate that a child's physical and mental safety is no longer a concern, then the State will do everything it can to return that child to its family. The State sees being with the biological parents as the best possible home for a child as long as those safety concerns do not exist. On one hand I agree with this as I think every child should have the chance of growing up with the parents that conceived them, on the other hand this policy does not take into account the overall quality of home that the child is in. If we decide to become Foster parents, then we have to be ready to return a child to a home that is not ideal or even healthy according to our standards. It is a sad consequence of living in a secular society. Although it is sad and fustrating that the state does not hold the same values as the Word of God, I still think that God can use us to plant seeds in the both the children and parent's of children that come into our lives. One interesting thing we learned in our class is that the State encourages foster parents to meet and communicate regularly with the biological parents. We both saw this as a great opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ to both the child and the parents. What a great ministry this could be for us. With that said we are still seeking God's plan for us through prayer and appreciate all of you that are praying for our decision. We feel God is definitely leading us in this direction, but want to make sure that our feelings are truely God's will. All our love, - The Benningtons