Sal, thanks so much for sharing your story with me. I truly know how happy your foster father was to have you come back into his life. Sadly, there are some "bad" foster homes out there, but most of us loved "our" children deeply and even though they may leave us through adoption or other reasons, they ALWAYS remain in our hearts and we are ecstatic when, and if, we are somehow reunited later in life.
I actually go by the name, "Kip" - the user name on this forum however is, "Bradley." "Bradley" (Braddie as we called him) was a beautiful, precious foster child of ours who was returned to his bmom and stepdad over our VERY VOCAL objections just before he turned 2 years old (we KNEW he would be hurt if returned home). Our attempts to protect him fell of deaf ears, and 66 DAYS after his return to bmom, he was dead of repeated, horrific abuse. I sadly gave up my foster care license after that nightmare that still haunts us each day of our life. We have a website for Braddie if you care to see it - he was, and still is a beautiful little angel.
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/cloud9bambi/brad.html
I hope your reunion with your birth family has been all you hoped for. I wish the laws would make it easier for families to find each other if child and parent desire to. Thanks again for sharing. ------ KIP