You Might Be a Foster Family If . . .

-You open your garage door and passing cars stop, thinking all of the bikes, toys, and baby furniture means garage sale.
-You go to a Foster Care meeting and everyone drives vans or station wagons, except for the small cars that belong to the social workers.
-You get your exercise from walking or carrying the kids to time-out.
-The K-Mart checker asks which school you are from, and you reply, ”We're a family.”
-You spend more time with your washer and dryer than you do with your spouse.
-Your heart is bigger than your brain.
-Santa Claus gives you a key to a store and leaves milk, cookies, and Alka Seltzer for you.
-You watch your 2-week placement go from crib to junior high.
-You regard your toilet snake as a family pet.
-Your local grocer tells you that if you ever move, he would like advance notice because he will have to lay off three employees.
-Your personal stash of children’s clothing rivals that of the local Goodwill office.
-The term “basically a good child with a few problems” doesn't mean the same thing coming from a caseworker as it does in the real world.
-Saying goodnight resembles the end of the Waltons: ”Night, John Boy . . . Night, MaryEllen . . . Goodnight, Lizbeth, etc.”
-Light switches, toilet handles, and door knobs last one year or less.
-Your idea of a “social life” is talking to the checkers at the local Wal-Mart.
Reprinted from “Foster Focus,” April 1997, published by the Olmsted County Foster Care Program.