Why do YOU Foster or Adopt?

Hi, am new here and just starting to spread my wings...

I wondered who fosters / has adopted and why they did so?

I have done both, and am an 'empty' foster carer still.

What lead me to foster was that I was fostered briefly as a child but returned home due to what i can only call a mix up online i guess, my foster carers made a HUGE impression on my life and I was glad to have the chance to thank my foster mum on the phone last year. She was shocked that i'd remained 'at home' the remainder of my childhood but relieved that i'd managed to get myself through it and become a good mum myself.

I adopted because... well this is a good one.. we had no plans so i can't pretend otherwise.. we fostered our little one and things didnt' go to plan for her future, her mum has mental health issues and her dad is mixed race so it meant that she had 'virtually no chance' as the SW's phrased it. We can't adopt anymore but it was a very easy transition to make from loving foster carer to loving mum and dad. Our little one will know her history soon enough (she's 3 with a speech and developmental delay so a little 'behind' other almost 4 year olds) but she'll also know we are her mum and dad and love her dearly, as does our eldest daughter. I hope that this will be enough to get her through the years to come, whatever they hold.

Hope you don't mind my asking your story..

I became foster parent.
As a child: I was very abused, pyhsically mentally, and sexually. So I know where these kids are coming from, not know if its' right or wrong. Not knowing where your next meal or where your going to lay down at night.. I knew that... So I can feel what they are feeling....

As I knew my little nephews at that time were 6 & 7. and now 16/17. But I knew how they had lived back and forth with mom and grma. And then back into the sytem, and they were literally lost in the system.. 2 yrs, and they were still not giving mom a case plan.. and then I stood up and told her she has to work on this and that.. And BOOM they give her a plan.. Now mind you I had no idea about foster parents then.. I wasn't doing it at that time. But a few years later, I became a foster parent. As I knew this little 11 yr old supereror girl, needed a home, and she was just adoring.. She had been sexually abuse, as I was when I was a child. She didn't know where or how her parents were goig to react and she just let it go on.. Until the school finally called on it.. And she was in the system for 3 years, and I was sure God had lead us to fostering for her. As now after 4 years, she is mine, and I love her as I had given birth to her.. She is remarkably smarter now, ans she has matured well. And she is an A student.. So i know there are homes out there that can be of good to one or another.. And now that I have done it for 5 yrs. I want to be one to help others become foster parents. I want the community to know whether the sytem stinkins or not, there are still children out there that need a home, and to be loved.. I want to be of help to all...
I want to make it better for foster parents, in the future. that's why I am the secr' of our foster support group in our county. And I will stand firm, unttil I get more than what we ahve.. will add a bit more later..God bless, DawnSu