INDIANAPOLIS — All week long, RTV6 has highlighted foster families and organizations working to help foster children in the state of Indiana.
It's the station's way of recognizing Foster Care Awareness Month.
After speaking to several foster families, they have some advice for those thinking about fostering.
One foster parent says to be prepared.
"Being prepared to open your home for children and loving them like they are your very own, and then seeing them walk out the door to essentially strangers… is the hardest thing in foster care," Heidi Guilkey, a foster parent, said.
Dealing with another person's child:
"You're dealing with other people's DNA, and other people's family history and they're personalities, and its all packed into this one little person," Steffanie Brown, a foster parent, said.
Fostering can be challenging.
"It's absolutely challenging; there's no question that it's a challenging thing..." Suzy Roth, executive director of Hands of Hope, said.
But those challenges are made easier by support systems in central Indiana.
"There's a lot of organizations that want to help people that want to be foster families," Craig Brown, a foster parent, said.
The best advice these foster parents can give is to be inquisitive.
"Ask questions," Steffanie Brown said. "There are local families that are willing to sit down and welcome you into their home, sit down, and talk with you."
Another adoptive and foster parent said talking with other foster parents helped them.
"We had talked to other foster families, and families that have adopted other kids, so we had some people with experience that had talked to us about it, so that certainly helped," Ryan Roller said.
"We let the fear hold on to us for a while, and I would say don't do that," Lauren Roller said. "Reach out and ask questions."
Each family has a different story. A different reason they began fostering, but everyone says the same thing; they're grateful they leaped. Because the risk far outweighs the reward.
"I wouldn't change any of it for a moment... for the world.. I've loved every bit of it," Eric Guilkey said.
