Suitcases

A suitcase.  Chances are, if you own one, it is stuffed in a closet, up in your attic or maybe cramed under your bed. You haul it out and dust it off for family vacations, a retreat or a required conference for work.
If you are a foster child, a suitcase is a luxury.  Most foster children arrive in care with little more than the clothes on their back.  Maybe a few items in a Walmart or garbage bag. Then, as they travel back and forth to visits at home or maybe move to another foster home they pack up their belongings in a nice new suitcase.  Wait, no,  a lot of the time they get to use that wonderful device for transporting clothing.....a plastic bag. Hummm, how many people would feel proud to carry their kitchen garbage bag full of their precious belongings on their next trip away from home. You know, filled with all those important items that we sometimes spend extra cash to "insure" for travel.  As you can probably tell, it infuriates me to have a child arrive at my home with their belongings (items that are SO very important to them) in a trash bag or maybe if they are lucky, a department store bag with handles.  It makes me even more mad when they arrive at my home like this after a transfer from another foster home. I can somewhat understand when they are quickly removed from a dangerous situation.  But, there is no excuse to send a child out to another home or back to their home with their belongings in that manner.  That being said, a wonderful lady recently wanted to organize a group to collect suitcases for children in foster care. When I heard her idea I thought it was great.  I haven't heard anything more about it, so....I am toying around with ideas/ways to raise money to buy suitcases or duffle bags for Foster children. I know you are on the edge of your seat. But, we're still brainstorming ideas in my home. So, if anyone has some creative juices flowing in their veins-suggest away.

Currently there are over 11,000 children in foster care in Missouri.

Over 2,000 children are waiting for a forever family.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves..  Prov 31:8a

Over One-Half Million Children are in Foster Care on any Given Day...

According to the CWLA, on any given day, there are more than half a million children in foster care in the U.S., the majority of whom have entered care due to abuse and neglect by their parents. Three‐fourths of them are placed by the government with foster parents who open their homes to care for these vulnerable children and almost one‐fifth are placed in group homes and institutions.
http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/marcsummary.pdf

Transitions

The Gorman Family Circus. That is what my nephew affectionately calls our family. We are a family of 7 at the moment (that can and does change from time to time). We have been brought together through marriage, childbirth, adoption and foster care. Currently (and Forever) there is myself, Marti, my husband of 18 years-Jeff, and our children Olivia, Grace and Andrew. We are also blessed to be a family to our two foster sons, who we love dearly. We have been foster parents for 7 years and have been blessed to adopt one of children. We love our children dearly and hope to soon be blessed again through adoption.







December 20, and Christmas is 5, yes thats 5 days away. Am I ready, no. We have been so busy with programs, work, sports etc. And God must have a sense of humor because we get to combine Christmas with the begining of transitioning our 2 1/2 yr old little guy, who has been with us through foster care since he was 7 months old, back to his Mom. And our other little foster babe, who is 8 months old is begining his journey towards permenancy. After trying for four years to adopt again, I think I have about all but given up.