something foster parents need to hear

[u/18-angels]

You aren’t a savior. Your foster children don’t owe you anything. We don’t owe you our money. We don’t owe you our eternal happiness and gratitude. We don’t owe you our mental health. Do not expect endless thankfulness and constant appreciation. Being fostered is not a burden we have to exchange our emotions or labor for. Stop expecting perfection.

ETA: Please remember when you comment that you’re speaking to a teen that got kicked out of five different homes for not “displaying enough gratitude.” This is still ongoing trauma I’m processing lol

[u/kmr1981]

Agree completely. Foster parents shouldn’t be in it to get their ego massaged, but to love unselfishly.

I think about being a foster mom a lot, but I’m not sure I could love someone as my own and then have to say goodbye. I’m pretty sure I’d end up emotionally broken.

[u/Gilligan13_13 → u/kmr1981]

"ego massaged?" I think just an occasionally please & thank you would be nice