What 23 Kids Have Taught Us About Foster Care

Read Finding Their Way to Foster Care to see how Caleb & Jeanne’s story began.

Caleb and Jeanne have fostered 23 children, and they’ve done it well. So naturally, we asked what advice they'd most want to share with families thinking about fostering.

If you're thinking about foster care, here's some of the wisdom they want to pass on:

Be flexible — but honor your needs, too. Fostering can ask a lot of your family's structure and routines. Both things can be true at once.

There's no formula. Every situation is different. This is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

Your first placement may be the hardest. You don't know what you don't know, and that's okay. Just because it's hard doesn't mean you're not good at this or that you aren't doing a great job.

Keep siblings together whenever you can. They've cared for many sibling groups and seen firsthand how much it matters. As Jeanne puts it: "We know how often they get split, and we know how important it is to the kids. We have seen siblings do so much better once they are reunited with each other. They just do better together."

Let go of the picture in your head. It's normal to want what you want, but fostering will probably look quite different from what you imagined. Learning to accept that is part of the process.

Know your values — and repeat them often. "This is our passion. We often remind ourselves that we can do it and our goal is to be like home."

If you're curious about what life at The Foster Care Village is really like, we'd love to show you around. Here are four ways to take that first step:

Join a FREE Foster Care & Adoption Online Info Session

Sign Up For a Virtual Tour of The Foster Care Village

Email us at fosteradopt@pchas.org

Call a Foster Care & Adoption Guide at (281) 324-0544

Read More of Caleb & Jeanne’s Story

  Finding Their Way to Foster Care

  Loving Them While You Can

  A Neighborhood That Gets It