FaithBridge foster mom Sandra Stanley understands how hard it is to say goodbye. She and her husband Andy serve foster families and children through the Fostering Together ministry at their church, North Point Community Church, loving children as their own for a season and knowing how difficult it can be when the season comes to an end. Sandra shared the beauty and value of entering into this temporary role as parents in this blog that previously appeared on her website, sandrastanley.com
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“How can you endure giving kids back after they’ve lived with you?” It’s a good question. It’s often asked. And the answer is, “It’s really hard.”
At some point, all foster parents face the reality of packing up suitcases with accumulated clothes, toys, and mementos. They watch as caseworkers pull into the driveway. They look into the faces of children who they’ve tucked into bed for a bunch of nights in a row … and they say goodbye.
The crazy thing is that they usually sign up to do it again. Why? Because they understand “the power of the parentheses.”
In almost every fostering scenario, there is a beginning and there is an end. There is the day the fearful kids arrive wondering who in the world these people are and why they can’t just go back home. There is a varying number of “in-between days.” And then there is the day the kids are packed up and either sent back home or to place of permanency.
The arrival day is the first parenthetical mark. The departure day is the closing one. Those “in-between days” are what I want to tell you about — the days that make up the space between the parenthetical marks. Those are the days, whether hard or easy, that compel foster parents to sign up and do it all over again.
Within those marks are the opportunities to show children, maybe for the first time, what a two-parent home looks like. It might be their first opportunity to see what a family dinner looks like. It might be among the few times they’ve felt safe when tucked into bed at night. It’s possibly the only time they’ve actually been tucked in. Perhaps it’s the first time they’ve been taken to church.
Many times, inside those parenthetical marks, they first hear about a heavenly Father who will never, under any circumstances, leave them. And, usually, they’ve been left a lot. That’s why foster parents endure the pain and uncertainty of giving kids back.
So, regardless of the distance between the opening and closing parenthetical marks, what happens in the middle matters a ton. The peace offered there is life altering. The picture of what a “someday” could look like casts vision for their future. The beginning of a relationship with a heavenly Father who never wavers is a complete game-changer.
THIS is the power of the parentheses. It’s why we do it again.
