Welcome. I am Trish Jonker. I am foster parent. I am just like you and I understand how desperately you want a loving, safe home. But you are struggling against your child’s history and the system they came from. And I know, all of that, sometimes makes you feel like a failure, ready to give up.
You often feel frustrated, tired and alone. It shouldn’t be this hard! I know. I’ve been there.
I began this community so that we wouldn’t feel alone anymore.
We are here to help you can start and stay on this unique parenting journey.
When Roy and I first started out as foster parents we thought our love for these kids and some creative parenting strategies would be enough. But it wasn’t. We have struggled a lot over the years and I would often feel alone. I would go to school events or basketball games and meet other moms and share stories of what was going on in our house, but often leave out a few details as I knew they wouldn’t understand. Sometimes our close friends would hear the ugly truth of our bad days and suggest we “go see someone”. But we didn’t have the time or money to commit to weekly therapy for ourselves. So we toughed it out. All the while thinking there should be a community, some people we could talk to, some people we could laugh with, who would get what was going on each night in our home. People who would understand that we loved our kids and were proud of their progress. People who would cry with us and listen and give us advice when we asked.
So, after a few years of feeling this way I decided just to create the space ourselves. I figured, if I feel this way, there are others out there who feel the same. And, maybe if I build it they will come. So here we are. Blog post #1. I’m ready to be honest with you, are you ready to be honest with me? Let’s talk, let’s laugh let’s listen, let’s cry, let’s share ideas that work and be honest about the ones that failed. Let’s be tired together, let’s be creative together, let’s not be alone in this anymore.
Sign up today to join our community.
And you will have a place to be seen & heard. You are not alone.
Trish
