Foster2Forever

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Will You Answer 10 Quick Questions for Me?

I have been sharing my story online here since 2009 — before my preschooler was even born! I have been quite open about my struggles with the foster care system and parenting kids from hard places. Through Facebook and Twitter, I do know tidbits of some readers — but I’d like to know more about YOU!  My blog will soon be undergoing a redesign so your answers are important to me.

Will you please answer these 10 quick questions so I can learn more about you? (Your answers are anonymous)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Thanks for helping me out!!!

2014-blog-reader-survey

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Birthparent Out of Prison

Earlier this month, I told you how, one night, a few years ago, I saw my child’s birthparents on the news when they were arrested for committing a violent crime.

Well, last week, I learned that the birthparent has been released early.

How did I know?

A few years ago, I set up Google Alerts for names of birthfamily members for both our children.  My intention was to know if our son’s grandmother had passed away since she lives in another city.

Here’s how to set up Google Alerts.

I set up Google Alerts for my name, my family members’ names, birthfamily names, my blog name, foster care, etc. I receive an email each week with a list of links that mention these terms, only if the terms are used on the internet that week. (One family member name is the same as a fisheries expert on the West Coast so I receive an alert with that name at least once a month.)

Have you set up any Google Alerts?

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My Confession: How I KNEW Sandusky was a Pervert

One of my earliest memories. I was around 4 years old, possibly even 3.  A large number of family members in a not-so-large house.  I remember running through the halls between the bedrooms, as I was playing chase with some cousins a bit younger than me.

And is that all it took? He must have been watching me from the doorway of one of the bedrooms. I didn’t notice – I was enjoying the stomping noise my Buster Brown shoes were making on the hard wood floors.

Then – Did he grab me? Or did he just take me away by the hand?  I really don’t remember.

I remember him closing the door to the bedroom – and the large luggage trunk sitting up on its end. He picked me up and sat me on it and hurriedly unzipped his pants. I remember him taking a large sausage out of his pants. It was flat on the end – not round, like the end of a sausage. Was he uncircumcised?

He then quickly pulled my panties to the side and rubbed against me.

His words I remember: “Ah! That’s better now.”

He quickly put me down, patted me on the rear, and said, “You go play now.”

And I skipped out of the bedroom, anxious to get back to my cousins.

That molestation couldn’t have taken longer than 2 minutes.  That’s how quickly a child can be violated.

In a houseful of people.  A child doesn’t necessarily have to be alone with someone.

And I didn’t tell anyone for nearly 2 decades.

Why am I telling you this?

1 in every 4 girls are sexually abused by the time they are 18 years old. 1 in 6 boys.  Less than a third of cases are ever reported.(1) Mine wasn’t.

sexual-abuse-foster-care-sanduskyJerry Sandusky’s abuse should have only happened once. We have to make it okay for kids to tell! Many are afraid that nobody will believe them.  Sandusky’s victims were.

The statistics are startling, aren’t they? In the 100 or so of you that regularly read my little blog, the statistics say that at least 2 dozen of you have survived sexual abuse. Have you told? 

I’m opening up guest post spots for you to finally tell others about how you were a victim of sexual abuse.  Just send me a message on my contact page.  It can be anonymous.

How can we ask children to tell, if we, as adults, don’t?

Share this page on Facebook, Pin It, Tweet It. Let everyone know that it’s okay to tell!

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It’s a Fabulous Day!

Woo Hoo!  Not only is May National Foster Care Awareness Month, but today, I am the Featured Blogger on The SITS Girls!!! A fabulous group of women bloggers supporting one another through social media. In fact, I wrote an article for them in January about how to help children in foster care that was very well received.

Blogging tipsI’ve learned a lot about the art of blogging through their website. And two years ago, I attended the SITS Girls Bloggy Boot Camp in Austin.  I was so overwhelmed with all there is to learn and do in the wild world of blogging. Who knew?  I will be meeting up with the SITS Girls again at Bloggy Boot Camp Dallas in September!

If you are here from SITS, HOWDY!!!

I’m Penelope, a foster mom that beat infertility by adopting two gorgeous baby boys from foster care. On this blog, I share my rollercoaster adventures of foster care and parenting once-neglected children.

Parenting is a challenge in of itself; however, add to that early neglect and trauma, and parenting can sometimes become overwhelming!

I’ve shared about my struggle to parent a difficult child, and tried a number of parenting techniques and strategies, such as:

But as much as a struggle parenting can be at times, I am overjoyed with my children! I am so proud to call my strong-willed Stinkpot my son.  When he out-of-the-blue says “I love you” or “kissy kissy my mommy“, I can hardly contain my joy. Those are the small moments that take my breath away.

And we are extremely blessed to call our illegal immigrant, Lil Bit, our son.  Sign up to receive our ebook that tells our unbelievable true story of his quasi-international adoption through foster care. God performed many miracles, including this one, to keep him home with us!

In celebration of National Foster Care Awareness Month, I am adding a community for Forever Families right here on my blog!  Also, feel free to contact me on Twitter (@Foster2Forever) and on Facebook.

Come introduce yourself in my community below!

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What’s Your Story? Contributors Wanted

Isn’t it amazing how God sometimes just puts everything together? Without you even being aware. And then, BAM! – when realizing, “Oh, that’s what He was doing!”

I’ve begun compiling the story of our crazy adoption of Lil Bit. With all its twists and turns. (with tons of editing necessary)

We will be releasing our story as an e-book later this month – free to email subscribers. (Are you a subscriber?)

And would you believe it? Amazingly, a writing course just fell into place. The timing is impeccable!  With a Children’s Bible Study for the kids. Wow!

Our readers' #1 bestseller! Have you read this childrens' book on foster care?

This writing course has had several published authors speak.

Each speaker has their own unique gift of storytelling. But each speaker, at one point, has said:

“We all have a story. A story that can touch lives. Each story is unique. Each story should be heard.“

And as foster parents, our stories are unique. Our stories can touch lives because our lives as foster parents touch young lives, if just for a brief time.

 

What is your story?

We’d like to read it here!

I love the community of foster parents here online. It’s made me feel less alone in this unique situation of foster parenting.

Would you like to become a contributer at Foster2Forever so you can tell your story? 

We’re looking for bloggers/writers/advocates/individuals to tell their stories here just once a month.  Just submit the contact form and tell us a little bit about your story.

What is your story?

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Top Posts of 2011 – Year In Review

2011 was a huge year for our growing family!  After nearly 2 years of having our Lil Bit as part of our family, we finally became his forever family officially.  We had many roadblocks during this journey to adoption!

Our website, Foster2Forever, has grown too. In February, we moved from Blogger to a dot com and had a little over 500 visitors in March.  However, since April, we’ve had around 2,000 visitors each month!!!

I’m simply astounded!

Thanks to Google Analytics, here are the most viewed posts of each month through 2011!

January: Do I Really Want to Look Like Angelina Jolie?

An allergic reaction to the flu shot caused my lips to swell as huge as the mother of Brad Pitt’s 6 children. After refusing to take another flu shot, I then, surprisingly, caught the flu.

February:  Am I Harboring an Illegal Immigrant?

I explain our Lil Bit’s immigration status and how it might delay our eventual adoption.

March:  Our Foster Baby is Officially an Orphan

It took 15 months to terminate the parental rights of both foster parents, given the birth father was somewhere in Mexico.

April:  No Time-Out?

Struggling with disciplining our Stinkpot, I discovered time-out wasn’t effective, and did just the opposite, with surprising results.

May: Open Adoption – Writing to the Birth Family

Our adoption agreement with Lil Bit’s birth mother stipulates an annual update letter.  Here I ponder whether to include the distressing events in Lil Bit’s time with us.

June:  Top 3 Ways to Delay Getting a Foster Care License

How our journey to become licensed for foster care was delayed over and over.

July:  Our Foster Baby Broke His Arm!

Our 22-month-old little climber fell and broke his arm on July 4th. This in turn triggered an investigation into our foster home, further delaying our eventual adoption.

August:  What Are Legal Risk Placements in Foster Care?

10 Frequently Asked Questions on legal risk placements.

September: We Are FINALLY Adopting our Foster Boy!

This post outlined our 21-month journey to become Lil Bit’s forever family. However, this was written just 10 days before our Lil Bit broke the same arm AGAIN, prompting yet ANOTHER investigation into our foster home.  It was beginning to look like we might never adopt this kid!

October: When You Shouldn’t Adopt from Foster Care

Renowned adoption advocate, Russell Moore, actually encourages some Christians to not adopt a child, just get a cat!

November:  Introducing Our New Son

After 23 months of hiding our Lil Bit’s angelic face from the world, I am officially a proud mama that can finally show off her adorable baby boy (and those amazing eyelashes)!

December:  New Home for Lil Bit’s Baby Brother

Two days before Lil Bit’s adoption, we receive a call that he has a newborn brother that is being released from the hospital. We sadly didn’t take the placement. Here’s what became of this newborn baby.

BONUS:

Foster2Forever had some incredible guest posts this year!  Two of these posts had over 500 pageviews each!

 

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Connecting on the Internet

Extreme Makeover

As you can see, Foster2Forever had a makeover.  New logo and new look for the site. (Also a new wordpress theme that I will have to learn.)  The navigation menu now has a drop-down menu so you can find topics easier. I’m still trying to figure out the header…

Also, social media buttons include Foster2Forever’s Twitter (do you tweet?) and Foster2Forever’s StumbleUpon which lists blog posts from the blogosphere that I find interesting.  Take a look and some of my discoveries! Are you a Stumbler?

Be honest, what do you think? Too different? Easier to navigate?

Facebook Changes

Yesterday, Facebook changed.  Here are some of the photos that have been scrolling down my Facebook wall.

Even Twitter had the hashtag #newfacebook trending all day. What Facebook did was take apart the News Feed and put your “Top Stories” at the top of the feed and friend’s activities to the top right.  Those items were there, but just buried in the news feed.  So I guess I am in the minority in saying that the change hasn’t really affected me much.  Are you upset about the Facebook changes?

Foster2Forever Facebook Page

Yesterday, I posted this photo on Foster2Forever’s Facebook page and asked y’all to guess what it was a photo of.

The surgical pins keeping our Lil Bit's elbow together. Yuk!

I didn’t realize that those things stick out like that! No wonder the doctor said he could take those out at the office.  Ew! Our LilBit will have those things in for at least another 2 weeks and will be wearing a cast for another month after that. Are you one of our friends on Foster2Forever’s Facebook page? After this photo, are you regretting it?  Sorry if you are grossed out! As a Biologist, I was curious…

Wanted: Information on Foster Care License

Foster2Forever is compiling a list of websites that discuss the process to become a licensed foster home. We will post the list on September 29th. We currently have 5 posts ready to publish. Is yours on the list?

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WANTED: Information on Foster Care License

Happy Labor Day!

We hope that you are enjoying your “last weekend of summer”.  Here in Texas, we are finally getting cooler temperatures.  Cooler actually is less than 100 degrees.

Last night, I actually sat on the front porch, enjoying the breeze, and began reading a wonderfully written best-selling novel about a couple’s journey through infertility and adoption. On September 22nd, I am joining the SITS Girls Book Club and the author for an online discussion. Will you join me???

Now, onto this month’s Foster Focus on getting a foster care license.

A few months ago, I detailed our journey to become a licensed foster home that included travel to 3 towns and over 1,800 miles of driving.

During that 4 post series, there were a lot of comments discussing the similarities and differences on becoming a licensed foster home.  State vs. Private agency, PRIDE vs. MAPP, etc.

This month, Foster2Forever would like to compile all those different requirements into a large list post to share on Thursday, September 29th as a resource for all of our foster care readers everywhere. (maybe in a blog hop format for everyone to share on their blogs?)

Have you already written about your licensing journey? Then share the link below in the comments!

If not, get writing! Then, send the link to your blog post through our CONTACT page.

If you wrote a series of posts, as I did, then you can send the link to the first post and link it to subsequent posts, OR write a post listing each of the posts.

If you feel comfortable, please share what state (or country) you are in and whether you are licensed through the State or through a private agency.

I am so excited!!!  Will you join in???

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How to Create a Facebook Fanpage

Hi,  I’m Sydney from Forever After Blog Designs! Today, I am here to do a guest post for Penny on creating a Facebook Fan Page. I’m so excited to do this, and I am hoping to get the word out about my fairly new business! I do all aspects of blog redesign, but instead of charging a fee for my services, I ask people to donate to an adopting family. You can visit my site to learn more about the cause and about how to get your own design done. Now, let me show you how to go about creating a fan page for your blog on Facebook!

Facebook Fan Pages are a great way to spread the word about your business or blog, and update people on the latest happenings. They are very easy to make too! I will show you in just a few simple steps:

1. Log into Facebook, or create an account if you don’t have one yet.

2. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

It should look like this when you get there:

3. For a blog fan page, click on ‘Brand or Product’. Select ‘Website’ as your category and type in the name of your blog for company name. Then click ‘Get Started’!

After clicking ‘Get Started’:

4.  Now, it’s time to edit the info about your blog. Click the ‘info’ link on the left sidebar.

Once there, add any information you want about your blog (Be sure to include your website address) and click ‘Save Changes’.

5.  Now, you can do anything! Upload your header image, Add a ‘Like’ box to your blog, post your first status update, etc.

  • These options are all conveniently located on your ‘Get Started’ page for you easy access. Each option provides you with thorough instructions.

  • To post on your wall, just click ‘Wall’ on your sidebar and type your text in the text box once you get there.

There you go! You officially have a Facebook Fan Page! Wasn’t that easy? Now, you will have a great way to promote your business and/or blog.

If you would like for your blog to automatically post to your new Facebook fanpage, you can syndicate through Networked Blogs. Read the Getting Started Guide to add your blog to Networked Blogs. (If you are concerned about privacy, you can be an anonymous author of your blog)

If you have a Facebook fanpage, add your link below.  Be sure to “LIKE” http://facebook.com/foster2forever

I’m Clever

Sway