Oregon Family's Foster Care Story

Lacey Scott's family has volunteered with Bring Me Hope's Summer Camps in China. Yet their extention of love touches little ones in their home community as well...

"My family started doing community foster care three years ago after realizing the potential our family had for doing good.

As my dad said, “so many families have so much to give, they only need opportunities to do so.”

We saw our opportunity in foster care, and once the decision was made it took less than four months to get our first foster child. He was a three month old baby boy named Aiden.

We instantly fell in love with his deep blue eyes and adorable belly laugh. As we bought new clothes for him and hauled him around to all our social events, he became a part of our family; he was our newest little brother.

And yet he didn't belong to us, and we were continually reminded of this as we met his mom and grandma at their twice weekly visits with him.

One of the hardest challenges we found in doing foster care was this paradox: You love the kids like they are your own, knowing full well they will someday leave. But should that knowledge keep you from loving them while you have the opportunity? We decided that it didn't, even after Aiden left seven months later.

Together my family grieved and cried over his departure and then found we still had more than enough love to offer another child. Since we became a foster family we have opened our home to seven different children, discovering that loving these kids is a difficult task but one that brings many rewards.

Now my family is embarking on another adventure together: adoption. Two of our little boys have no home to return to, so we are blessed to become their forever family.

Foster care has revealed many things about the nature of our family. My mum often says, "it's brought out the best and the worst in each of us.” We've gotten overwhelmed at times and struggled to see how the sacrifices are worth it. But we've stuck together and gotten though.

Looking back, I am grateful for the work God has given us. And when my soon-to-be-adopted brother's come running out of the house screaming "Lay-lay!!" when I come home, or when they fall asleep on my lap at night, I wonder whether they aren't the ones blessing us."

* Bring Me Hope applauds and encourages families like the Scotts, who find practical ways to care for hurting children in their own communities. If you’d like more information on foster care, please write to: info@bringmehope.org *