25/06/2026
I read this and couldn’t help but think foster carers, foster carers children and families, friends and support networks of fostering families, fostered children and young people are all heroes. Fostering is rewarding yes but tough at times.
Everything our fostering families do doesn’t go unnoticed ~ thank you all 💕
💛🧡💚
The below words are copied from ’unbiologically mine’
People often ask foster parents how they can keep doing it.
How they can love a child knowing they might leave.
What they don’t realize is that foster parents don’t say goodbye once.
They say goodbye over and over and over again.
To the baby whose first steps they celebrated.
To the toddler who called them “Mom” before they could pronounce half the alphabet.
To the little girl who finally learned to sleep through the night after months of fear.
To the teenager who tested every boundary because they desperately needed someone who wouldn’t give up on them.
And then they do it again.
And again.
And again.
Each goodbye leaves its mark.
There are empty bedrooms.
Photos that no longer get updated.
Favorite foods that stop appearing on the grocery list.
Inside jokes that no one else understands.
Birthdays quietly remembered by people who may no longer be allowed to be there.
The grief is real.
Not because foster parents believe children belong to them.
Not because they don’t support reunification.
But because attachment is supposed to happen.
The goal was never to remain detached.
The goal was to love a child deeply enough that they could heal, grow, and move forward—whether that future included us or not.
The hard truth is that every healthy attachment carries the risk of heartbreak.
And foster parents choose that risk repeatedly.
Many carry the names, faces, and stories of dozens of children in their hearts for years afterward.
Some still wonder how they’re doing.
Some still pray for them.
Some still celebrate their birthdays privately.
Some still cry when their names come up.
The world often sees the placement.
The court dates.
The reunification.
The adoption.
What it doesn’t always see is the accumulation of loss that comes from loving children well and then letting them go.
Yet somehow, after every goodbye, many foster parents answer the phone again.
Not because it doesn’t hurt.
But because a child needed someone willing to love them despite the possibility of loss.
And that’s a kind of courage that often goes unseen.
— Unbiologically Mine ❤️
We are a close dedicated team lead by three very experienced Fostering Social Workers, Carol Stickland, Joanne Nutton and Katie Duffield who are inspired to support every foster family to succeed. Relationships are the deep roots and strong branches of our fostering agency success. We run a high .....
