A message from a thankful Pickens County Foster Mom
Let me tell you how much Fostering Faithfully means to our family.
We started fostering in April of 2016 when we accepted a sibling pair. We heard about Fostering Faithfully (FF) from a member of our Foster Parent Association group. When I mentioned our foster son was already outgrowing his car seat, I reached out to FF staff and immediately they opened their arms and helped meet every need we had: carseat, clothes, diapers, wipes, shoes, backpack, socks and everything for our baby boy and toddler girl who was about to start school. The next year, we accepted Boy/Girl Twins, and we had absolutely nothing for babies because we donated everything back to FF when we thought we were finished accepting babies. I contacted FF, and within 4 hours I had 2 car seats, a crib, 2 bassinets, diapers, clothes and everything I needed for twins! Then, our foster daughter was having a birthday, and FF sent us a check for birthday sponsorship, so we were able to invite her birth family to eat with us and celebrate at the park. Having us all together meant so much to her. Later that same year, our foster daughter had to undergo multiple surgeries, and FF helped us find respite for our other children and delivered meals to our home after we got home from surgery.
We have just received so much support in all the years we have opened our home and hearts to this community as a foster parent! Because of Fostering Faithfully our foster children have gotten to attend summer camps, swim lessons, birthday sponsorships, duffle bags personalized with each child’s name, and gotten to be able to shop at the closet when our kids outgrew clothes and shoes. In July 2019 we adopted our first 2 foster siblings, in November of 2019 we adopted our foster twins! I sent the team our forever pictures with all 6 of our kids! 2 bios and 4 adopted kids, to much of a surprise I received a gift certificate in the mail for professional pictures to be taken of our new, expanded family. We are forever grateful for that special gift for our family!
In February 2020, we accepted a teen mom and baby boy. We went shopping at the the FF resource center for them. There weren't any clothes in Mom's size, but I was told by the volunteer to go take her shopping and turn the receipts in for reimbursement. She felt so loved. It was a blessing to see our teen go shopping to pick out her own clothes, in the right size, and in her style. This made her feel so valued. At the closet, the mom’s face lit up as she was able to pick out the sweetest things for her baby. It gave her worth to provide for her son at such a young age. In 2023, we reached out to our community Facebook page to try to ask for help for our adopted daughter to attend a camp that works with special needs children. The cost of the camp was going to be hard for us due to us having 7 kids with special needs. I got a call from the FF director, explaining that they had a donor that would love to sponsor your daughter for camp. This is a huge honor and blessing to us to be continued to be supported even after adoption. This organization truly loves foster and adoptive families forever! Our family wants to say thank You for all y’all have done for us and all of the other families y’all support everyday.
