I grew up an only child for eleven years and all that I ever wanted was a sibling. When my parents announced to me when I was in the 5th grade that we would begin to take-in foster children and maybe even adopt one, I was overjoyed. Looking back now, I realize that I did not have much of an idea of all that fostering children required, I was just excited about having a little brother or sister.
On the day that my parents got the call to get our first foster child I had no idea what to expect. Would this child like our family? How long would he stay? How hard would it be to adjust to having another child in the house? I had the same questions for the two foster children that we would receive next. These two children were brother and sister. We did not expect them to stay long, but a few years later my family and I found ourselves adopting them. However, this did come with its hardships. Not all of our extended family have welcomed our foster and adoptive children with open arms. It has been hard dealing with some of the comments about how “fostering children is a good thing to do, but is just not for our family” that I have gotten from some family members. However, it is all made worth the hardships in the little ways that the children bless you everyday. There are no words that can describe the joy that it brings to me when I see my brother or sister running up after a long day at school to give me a hug. My parents and I have found that our extended family has become more accepting of our foster and adopted children once they have realized the amount of joy and love that the children can bring to their lives. I could have never imagined how much this would change not only my life, but also the lives of my entire family.
While the adoption of these two children has brought so much joy to my parents and I, other members of my family did not feel the same way. To this day there is still a barrier between some of my family members because of this adoption; some of our family members even question whether the adoption of my two siblings was beneficial for my family. Despite this tiresome controversy, I would not change a thing. Nothing can compare to loving these two beautiful young children and having them love you back. Whatever the struggle, it was all worth it in the end.
