this upside down life

We Are Not Saints

December 17, 2019 Kate Lafferty Comments 0 Comment

Our foster care journey started in 2015. After many stops and starts, expectations and disappointments, and mounds of paperwork, my husband and I officially became foster parents in August of 2016 when our (first) two foster sons moved into our home. We weren’t even technically licensed yet, but here they were. They were 8 and 10 years old with a long list of behaviors, traumas, and family baggage that moved in with them. You can imagine the comments we received. …

I Signed Up for This

December 17, 2019 Kate Lafferty Comments 0 Comment

Those of us who have lived in the trenches of foster care have heard it uttered many times: “You signed up for this.” A technically true, but cold and insensitive response to what was surely a foster parent venting their frustrations with the foster care system, their nine billionth call from their foster child’s school, or the day-to-day toils of raising a child with a traumatic background. Yes, I did sign up for this. I have come to a crossroads…