[mommy09]

Hey I'm looking for other young foster parents (in your twenties) who are still kinda new to fostering kids.. Most of the time when I tell people I'm a foster mom they look at me funny. Me and my husband love kids and have a heart for kids in foster care. Is there anyone out there like me?

[hopefulfor1more]

My husband and I are foster to adopt parents in our late twenties. We started as foster only and we transitioned in to foster to adopt after our first foster care placement.

[GaViolet]

My husband and I are both in our twenties. He is 22 and I am 21. We get looks and comments because of our age but the people that know us know how much we care and love our kids. We had several placements at once which brought our total to 4 kids under 4 and people always gave me looks I guess they thought they were all mine and I was young. Its great other young people want to help and provide love and support for the children and their families. If you have any questions you can pm me.

[CaddoRose]

I had to chime in even though I'm 46. We get the same looks and comments because we're older. Some people can't ever be satisfied! You're either too young or too old. I'm so impressed by people who are your age and know what they want and go after it. Don't let those nay-sayers dissuade you.

[humanchild]

I am 27 and have been a foster mom for 4 years. When I first started I got a lot of flac from the social workers who told me I should wait a few years, "What's the rush? You have lots of time!" But I kept at it, and yes, lots of people think I am crazy, but it is all worth it.

[fredalina]

i'm in my 30's, but i tried to convince my ex-husband to start fostering when i was 24. i was ready for kids, and i've always wanted to be a foster mom. i say go for it! Just make sure you have a stable life, which i'm sure you do.

[meshsgrl]

I am in my mid twenties... I look older then I am (not a fun thing) so I get very few comments. I think it does make a difference with the age kids I take.
Most of my SW are my age so it works well.

[Mummy_Big_Bird]

I am not in my 20's anymore, but I got my first placement just after I turned 27.

I get some comments from other foster parents in my area (all in good fun), but I just tell them I have the energy!

If you weren't fostering in your 20's, people would expect you to be pregnant. What's the difference?

[mommytoEli]

Originally Posted by mommy09

Hey I'm looking for other young foster parents (in your twenties) who are still kinda new to fostering kids.. Most of the time when I tell people I'm a foster mom they look at me funny. Me and my husband love kids and have a heart for kids in foster care. Is there anyone out there like me?

we used to be....i think we were 26/27ish when we started....we had no other kids and quickly became fps to 3 kids aged 0-9! lol. we looked younger than we were, and so often times people asked our kids about their "brother and sister," and they'd be like, "that's my mom and dad." lol. fun times. everyone told us we were crazy.....but i'm glad i didn't take the big ole boring route in life, this way is so much more exciting! my favorite fp time was when we had our 3 adopted kiddos, and we were fostering 2 more. so we were parenting 5, of different races....man the looks we got at target!

[mellaf]

I'm 26 and hubby just turned 30. We're first time foster parents with our Sparkle. Not sure if we're going to fost to adopt again or not.

We do get a lot of looks and comments about our age--Hubby looks A LOT younger than he really is. He always get carded when we go out and they don't ask me at all.

One of my favorite situations is when I say I'm a parent and they look at how old Sparkle is and try to figure out how old I was when I had her. They never have the courage to actually ask me. The look on their faces tells me exactly what they're thinking!

I've wanted to foster (and adopt) since I was really young. Hubby had to be somewhat coaxed into it, but now he's as much in love with Sparkle as I am.

It's nice to see other younger fp's on the board though! Parenting a foster child is so much different than parenting a biological child! All of the "advice" I get from certain people would not work for Sparkle because of her situation. I've been accused of being too strict with our rules--Sparkle had to be line of sight for awhile due to behaviors/ODD issues and no one understood you just can't let an ODD child have run of the house the way a bio child could.

[hermommy]

I am 28, my dh is 37. We started fostering to adopt at the age of 24 and 33. When we first started classes I ALWAYS got "why do you want to tie yourself down to other peoples kids, you are so lucky you can do what you want when you want, and My FAV was. why don't you wait until you have lived your life then put that burrden on yourself." Now people just say how beautiful my kids are... most of the time it is coming from the same people that said the other things lol.

[Prettyboicris]

I am in my 20's my wife is a little older than I am. I think no matter what age we were people would look at us like we are crazy. They think we should do private adoption if anything as opposed to doing Foster Adopt because some people think kids in the system are "damaged goods."

[DannieAS]

I understand what you mean about the looks. I am 31, but look younger and still get carded, so people give me some eyebrows when they hear I'm adopting from foster care.

I say either find humor in the situation or just let it pass...

[fredalina]

i think the looks are probably either surprise or the same looks every foster parent gets regardless of age.

The majority of foster parents are either "seasoned" parents who already have birthchildren, or people who have been affected by infertility, or perhaps this is just the way most people think anyway. Some people have the mistaken notion that only people in their 30's and 40's are affected by infertility, so, since you are not a "seasoned parent" already, and they assume you're not infertile, they want to know what your angle is.

Why "i feel called to help in this way" never crosses their mind is more a statement about them.

[mellaf]

Originally Posted by hermommy

I am 28, my dh is 37. We started fostering to adopt at the age of 24 and 33. When we first started classes I ALWAYS got "why do you want to tie yourself down to other peoples kids, you are so lucky you can do what you want when you want, and My FAV was. why don't you wait until you have lived your life then put that burrden on yourself." Now people just say how beautiful my kids are... most of the time it is coming from the same people that said the other things lol.

Our only issue with the burden question is that they don't say it, but they hint about it. There are some people around us who are so self-involved they can't understand why we're doing this willingly. I had friends in the system as a young child who didn't turn out too well when they got older, but they were always so kind to me (something NOT normal in my hometown). I told myself that I wanted to take care of kids like them when I was older.