Becoming Parents Through Foster Care

Back in 2016, Ami Woodyard and her husband began the journey of becoming parents through foster care. They decided that they wanted to grow their family further. If a child in their care needed someone to fight for them then they knew they could step in and help. They had three children already so becoming parents again through foster care seemed right.

The Call

Four days before Christmas in 2017 they received a call about placement for a seven-week-old girl named Emma. Ami actually missed the first call and didn’t return it until an hour later. She worried that she had been placed with another family. Luckily the social worker told her that she had not been placed because most people left town for the holidays.

Right after the phone call, Ami rushed down to DHHS at 11 o’clock at night and picked up her new daughter. A year after that memorable night they began the process of TPR, which they filed in April of 2019. The only thing left to complete was the home study and the adoption date.

A New Family

The journey of becoming a part of a new family as a foster youth can be scary but it just takes time and patience. For Ami and her family, getting to know Emma and falling in love with her turned out to be one of the best parts of the entire process. Emma showed the family that change isn’t always scary. Growing together as a family made the process easier.

More Compassion

A big lesson Ami and her family learned is that people should be more compassionate. Embracing the adoption made all their hearts bigger and better. They had the chance to help a child out of a system that doesn’t always work. Ami believes that more people should make an effort to help kids in foster care. The process might be long but the end goal is definitely worth it.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, we’d like to thank Ami for talking about becoming a parent through foster care. For those considering foster to adoption, check out our adoption calculator for a cost analysis.