Take a moment to think about this, how many times has your child had to work on a project for school where they were to bring pictures of them when they were younger? Now imagine you had none to give your child how would your child feel?
Most good foster parents create a book that the child can take with them to wherever their next home may be. This book is called a life book and it basically shows their life since they were in foster care. Most children in the system have no pictures from before they were put in the system they at least deserve the memories and pictures that a foster parent can offer them.
My middle son came from a great foster family; they loved him and documented all the milestones that he experienced when they were with him. When his foster father died suddenly he went to another great foster home where they continued the life book the first foster home started for him. He has pictures of his life from 1 month on up.
My oldest son came from a foster family that saw him strictly as a paycheck. He had no pictures of the year that he was with them. He did not speak at the age of three; they did not even attempt to potty train him and actually told us not to bother that he would not learn. He was in their care for a little over a year and he did not know their names or the names of their son who was the same age. They had the CPS agent give him to us with a trash bag of clothes that did not even fit a 3 year old they were size 2 T and smaller. He had not gone to a dentist the whole time he was there; when he came to us he ended up having to get multiple silver caps on his teeth within a month of joining our family.
My youngest daughter came from another great foster family. She was only 3 weeks old when she came to us so they did not have her very long but every 2 days they took a new picture of her and wrote how old she was on the picture and sent them to us when the CPS worker brought her home to us.
Foster parent’s that do it for the children and not the check have an amazing heart. They open their hearts and give love to children they know will only be in their lives temporarily. They experience a loss when the children they bond with and loved are moved out of their homes, but they keep doing it for the kids that need them. If you know a foster family let them know that their selflessness is a gift that should be very proud of the gift they are giving the kids that come through their lives.