Thousands of foster children need homes, but only a few will take them in. Junior Michaella Booth’s family is one of them. About two years ago, her parents decided they wanted to open their home and take in foster children. They opened their home despite the complications they knew would come.

When a family wants to take in a foster child, they must get information about the foster child program, attend an orientation and fill out an application. Once they fill out the application and it is approved, they have to attend an eight to 10 week Model Approach to Parenting Preparation training.

Through this training, they improve their parenting skills. They are taught how to help the kids transition into a new home and learn about subsidies they will receive and their rights and responsibilities as a foster caregiver.

“It’s a really long, stressful process,” Booth said. “We had to move and change our life.”

Her family had to move to a bigger home and adapt their house so they would fit the necessary standards for foster homes. This included babyproofing their cabinets and drawers and putting up other safety measures.

They get children of various ages. The first foster child they received was only a baby. At first, Booth wasn’t happy with the situation because she had to share her room. However, as the baby girl spent more time in the home, Booth felt closer to her.

She shared a room with Booth for a year until her mother was fit to take care of her.” Booth said, “I got really attached, I saw her like a little sister.”

Now, the little girl comes to visit them. Their family is very close to her. “She came to our house for Thanksgiving.” But once a child leaves, another comes. Currently they have three foster children with them. The
three children are brothers.

“The youngest one was two weeks old when we got him,” Booth said. “His
mom is a meth addict.”

They keep the children until their parents get better or until they are 18 years old. Once they turn 18, her family can choose whether they want to adopt the child.

Although her family is doing something great by helping these kids, it comes with a lot of responsibility and complications. For this to work out well, her father stays home and takes care of the kids, getting them ready for school and driving them where they need to go. Her mom kept her job as a school teacher.

Every two weeks they get their home inspected by the social workers and have to fill out an extensive amount of paperwork. What frustrates Booth most is that “(They) don’t get to do a lot of family
things because (the other kids) always have to come and it’s more money to go out.”

Aside from not being able to go out as a family, Booth says that the kids are very troublesome. “It’s hard (to deal with them), but you have to make sacrifices. And you feel good because you’re helping them have a better life.”