It is with much excitement, and a little fear, that I tell you we are adopting a foster child, preferably a girl. Well, I say that, but we are still in the process of obtaining our license. Saturday, August 6th, we completed all of the required classes. However, we still have to pass physicals, a home inspection which includes locking up all medications, cleaning supplies, alcohol and fire arms.

Terry and I are thrilled. Yes, we know that it will be difficult. These children have been removed from their biological parents and, with adoption, they will also be removed from their foster parents and sent to us. The children still love their biological and foster families, and may resent us for disrupting their world once again. They’ve experienced the trauma that caused them to be entered into the foster system in the first place.

That is specifically the reason we want to adopt the children. We believe we can help our child overcome her past and learn to use it as a building block, not a crutch. We each have aspects of our childhoods that make us think we can help a child become a loving wife and mom when her time comes. I know this can happen, and if you like, you can read How I Escaped the Domestic Violence Cycle, as well.

All that being said, I want to share The Mystic Princesses with her when the time is right. Terry thinks my books could make her miss her family. And he is correct. Aphrodite, who is Harmonie’s mother, gives Harmonie to her brother Eros to raise (hmm, sounds like a foster child). Then when Harmonie’s warmongering siblings find her, she is moved to Kauai where she lives with a new family (foster child, again?). And when her siblings find her again, she and the other Mystic Princesses move to New Orleans (yet another new foster family?).

While in New Orleans, Harmonie tells the others she misses her bio family and wants to meet them, but isn’t allowed to do so be cause it isn’t safe. So that’s what I mean about the timing for reading the books to her. However, the books could also serve as a spring board for conversations about being in foster care. For now, I am in agreement with Terry. We will have to get to know our daughter first.

Another area where my books can help is to teach our daughter that sometimes it is not safe to keep secrets. Foster children have experienced traumatic events in their lives, or they wouldn’t be in the system. They need to talk about it in order to grow past it.

We’ve been looking at the children in the search website wondering which will be our daughter. What will she be like? Will she love unicorns, princesses, gymnastics, reading or ponytails? And, if she has a sibling do we take the sibling that needs a forever family, as well? We have the room, so we may end up adopting two children. Time will tell.

I’ll likely post generic things about fostering or adopting, but as our daughter’s privacy is paramount, I will not post about her experiences. For now, please join me in celebrating our future daughter. And stay tuned for updates as we reach milestones in the adoption process. My next blog will be about the process itself, for the state of Florida.

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