For much of my life, I have been surrounded by friends who have welcomed children into their home via fostering & adopting. While I love children and have babysat since I was a young teen, I honestly never thought I would do either. Fostering & Adopting seemed like a foreign world that I would never be able to enter.
Then one day my heart changed. God placed fostering on my heart in an instant. That day I made calls, printed applications, and began the process to enter into that foreign land I had previously been unsure of.
Within 3 months, we were licensed to foster and immediately welcomed a little 3 year old girl into our home. She showed up at our door scared, shy, and unkempt. We experienced what is known as the “honeymoon period” where our sweet 3 year old was just that…sweet! While I’m sure her mind was racing with confusion and fear, she didn’t show it. She adapted to our home and lifestyle very quickly.
However, within a few weeks, she began acting out in ways I didn’t know how to manage. She would rage, scream at the top of her lungs, hit me, hit herself, pull her hair, throw other things in our home…you get the picture.
I took to Facebook with my exhaustion and frustration. Many friends and family provided new ideas to try, books to read, and encouraging words. One friend said, “Find a book that states how you feel. One that says you will love her for always. Read it to her lots of times. Write her name and your name in it. In fact let all of your family sign it. Give it to her to keep with her. She needs to be reassured over and over.”
So began my journey to find this perfect book. I looked everywhere, and I found the sweetest books on fostering, but none of them said what I wanted to say to our little girl.
“Love You From Right Here” came from the longing to give her the comfort and stability I was desperate to give her and she was desperate to receive. I wrote a simple book from the foster mom’s perspective directed to the foster child. It’s a story that can be ready quickly every day to a child who is experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. It doesn’t highlight the negative associations with the child’s previous placements, but rather provides a picture of unconditional love.
At the end of the book, there is a special documentation section for the foster parent to recount the child’s time in their home. When the child leaves the home, he or she will have a piece of their history to take with them.
