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Originally Posted By Jerry

I can tell you from first hand experience that there is nothing as devastating as loosing a child. Quite frankly it changed our lives. There is deep lingering grief you have to deal with on a daily basis. It never gets better you just learn to live with it; Like exisiting with a huge piece having been ripped from your body leaving only the pain from the savagery.

I've worked with many parent's that have lost children and it's really no different if it's sudden or a lingering illness. With an illness the family will usually begin the grieveing process before the child passes away. Always there is deep sorrow.

My wife's step sister fostered and adopted medically fragile children (3 all together) and they have all passed away. She is a very wonderful person with a deep faith, but you can see the pain and loss in her face. I've also met a foster parent here that was asked to take a child home "to die." The child is still living 12 years later.

Someone must care for the sick and dying. We too had thought about HIV children, but for our family it wasn't a good match. We have also talked about taking a child with a dire prognosis. We are not sure we could. That topic has been under discussion for some time. I would make a suggestion to anyone considering this route. Go volunteer with hospice for a time. Their approach and pholosophy may bring you to feel you can foster or adopt a child with these needs.