Embrace the Wait: Thoughts As We Prepare to Become Licensed Foster Parents
We were squealing with excitement when our licensing worker told us, at the very end of our final home study, that she would be recommending us for approval. This was our last major hurdle in the licensing process! Now, all that is left to do is wait!
But for how long? We really don’t know. She said it could be six weeks or more, but we have friends who just recently got their license in only two weeks. Then, on top of that, how much longer will it be until we get a placement? Some foster parents have said they started getting calls right away, and others have said it took weeks for the first phone call to come.
What do we do while we wait? We make the most of it. We try not to pester our licensing worker too much for updates, and we pray for the children who will come to us. We give uncertain answers to the people who want to know more about them. We continue explaining what we’re doing and why to the people who are just finding out. We gush with gratitude to our friends who offer to throw us a shower. We finish setting up the smaller things in the house. We try to savor these moments that lead up to parenthood—something that will change our lives forever once it has finally begun.
We do some things that might not be as easy once there are children in our care. We foster a litter of kittens for the local Humane Society. We make plans to visit family out of state. We host a friend from out of town. We have date nights and take a short beach trip. And, heeding the advice of the other new parents, we try to get as much as rest as we can!
We start to see things a little differently, too. Some close friends get a foster placement, and we learn from everything they experience. We offer support as much as we can, knowing that our time will be coming soon. We go to our goddaughter’s birthday party, and we wonder if this will become the new normal for us. We watch birth, foster, and adoptive children all play and laugh and celebrate there, and we are reassured that our children will feel welcome, no matter how they come to join us.
We do bother our licensing worker from time to time, and she is always kind and reassuring. She does not mind our checking in, and she tells us that our paperwork has made it to the State DSS Office for processing. There are still several families ahead of us, and she reminds us that some applications, like those for kinship care, may have to go ahead of ours. We understand, and we thank her.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV)
We know that our time will come. We know that it’s good to cherish each of life’s chapters, and to use this time to prepare for what comes next. We trust that God is looking after our future family members, wherever they are, and that He is equipping us for the moment that we’ll finally get to meet. We’re antsy and eager, but we’ve entrusted this uncertain future to a God that we’re confident loves all and knows best.
Sarah and her husband live in Upstate SC and have been eagerly hoping to become foster parents since they initially applied in the Fall of 2019. As they grow their family, their goal is to love others with the same love that they have experienced in Christ. They advocate for children through their careers, church involvement, social media platforms, various blogs, and direct support for foster and adoptive families.
