Fostering Tea Session (Annie)

From a joint tea session organized by HFG and Boys' Town Fostering Services on 13th November 2021

Annie came from Hong Kong and she used to volunteer with children with autism in dormitories back in Hong Kong. She spent six hours to play with these children and had to leave after her volunteering work ended. This left her a desire to do more in-depth work as she realized the impact she had on them was limited as she had to leave shortly after the children became familiar with her and started to bond with her.

When she was based in Singapore, she felt that God gave her a desire to help children. God spoke to her in a loud voice one morning “there is a girl that I want you to take care”. Annie knew intuitively that God was asking her to care for a foster child. She shared the idea with her husband and her husband voiced his concerns of the foster child not getting along well with their own child. Annie prayed to God to soften her husband’s heart. A few months later, she broached the topic to her husband and they decided to try out fostering. Fast forward to 9 months of foster parent application and a year of training, they provided short term care for her 1st foster child, a 13-year-old teenage girl, Alice* (pseudonym). Her 2nd foster child was another teenage girl, Carol* (pseudonym).
Her family provided 3 staple meals for the girls. This was something everyone took granted to be normal but Alice and Carol revealed that they never had food security prior to being cared for by Annie and family. Both girls were also given opportunities to be enrolled into enrichment classes to further their interests and academics.
To overcome her past experiences, Annie took time to explain to Alice what real love is like between a father and daughter, as well as helping her to draw healthy boundaries to keep her safe in the community. Alice had many emotional issues. Annie patiently got Alice to open up about her past and assured her that she has God’s love. Alice went to another foster family 3 months later. Though Annie was the interim foster family, Annie could see the impact on Alice’s life in those 3 months.
Her second foster child was a 14-year-old girl, named *Carol (pseudonym). At the point of placement, Carol was withdrawn and had low self-esteem. Annie and husband waited patiently for her to open up. One day, there was a breakthrough and Carol revealed that she and her siblings would only get 1 packet of food for 3 meals, which were shared by all except 1 of the siblings. Annie assured her that she would care for her, and that she does not need to fear of being hungry anymore. She explained that she could eat whatever food was in the fridge. Over time, Carol showed wonderful growth. She became more disciplined, independent, and the school noticed that Carol was happier and was able to make new friends in school. The teacher called Annie to share her observations and thanked her for her help. Carol subsequently returned to her family when her family became more stable.
Annie shared that her family saw the power of modeling what a healthy family should be to these children. It has made an impact on the children that came them. She would like to encourage families couples to consider fostering and to make an impact on the lives of vulnerable children.

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