You Know You’re a Foster Parent When

• You’re at the doctor’s office and stare blankly when asked for your child’s birth date.
• You’re pretty sure your foster kids don’t have middle names.  If they do, you don’t know what they are.
• Your foster child has the same name as one of your pets or another child in the home.
• You’re between placements and scramble for your phone in anticipation every time you hear it ring.
• You have a lice treatment routine.
• You go to a foster parent support group and everyone is driving a minivan.
• Someone gives you clothes for your foster babies and you comb through them to take out any “Daddy’s boy” or “Momma’s little helper” items.
• You hesitate when a stranger asks how many children you have.
• You know the in’s and out’s of your county building but have a clean record.
• You call around for daycare and all you can tell them is you’ll probably have a child who needs care, but you’re not sure when, how many children, or what age or gender they’ll be.
• You have acquaintances ask why you only post pictures and stories about some of your children on social media (assuming that your foster children are biological and you’re purposely leaving some out).
•   You put off making future plans that need a definite head count as you don’t know how many kids you’ll have.
• You know what the acronyms CASA, ICWA, TPR, and DSS mean.  And BM doesn’t refer to something you do in the bathroom.
• You don’t have guest bedrooms for adults.  Those are reserved for future kids.
• You have bins of clothing for all ages and both genders just in case.
• The only person you’ll deep clean for is your caseworker.
• You have smoke detectors in every room, and they actually work.
• You keep your medicine in a locked tackle box.
• You find out you’re getting a new placement and go on a massive grocery run (extra coffee included) so you don’t have to leave the house for a week.
• Your heart is bigger than your brain.

Click here for part 2!

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