Fostering Tea Session July 2023 (Jason & Irene)


This Sat morning, we are thankful for Jason and Irene, foster parents from the HFG community, share their fostering journey at our joint fostering intro session with Epworth Foster Care.
Both of them literally glowed with joy as they shared about their fostering journey! Definitely not expecting this… if you know that they are parents/foster parents to 5 biological/foster children, including a few months old foster child.
Here’s a few takeaways from their sharing.
- Fostering has bonded their family closer together, including their extended family. Jason shared that his marriage is also stronger now, because of better communication with his wife and how fostering and his faith have changed his attitude/heart. Fostering requires team work! Irene shared that she has also come to know herself much better now, and that she needed help first in order to help others.
- Fostering has blessed each of their biological child (e.g., extending grace to others) as well as their relationship with them. The mandatory free training courses provided to foster parents also taught them a lot about parenting skills that were relevant for their biological children.
- The need for family love by these children who have been neglected or abused. When they first met their baby foster child, the baby was frowning! And was not very responsive in the beginning. Medical check-up confirmed nothing was wrong. These early behaviours were due to lack of stimulation. Fortunately, the child’s behaviours have changed overtime with them.
- Pursuing a relationship with your foster children should be done first, not the pursue of right or wrong actions/behaviours.
Their fostering journey comes with challenges too. However, they have both learnt much more about love, especially from their faith’s perspective. It included the meaning of love in action and a love that never forsakes.
They hope other faith-based foster parents will join the fostering journey with the attitude to receive love and blessings. Such blessings cannot be purchased with money. With “disruption” to their lives, learning and growth also happen. This journey is definitely not based on their own strength.
As Jason wrapped up their sharing, he shared that he has learnt what it means to be adopted into God’s kingdom through his personal fostering journey.
Please check out this video from The Heartbeat Project to learn more about fostering journey as well as the journey from their foster child’s perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvezZnAhcKE


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