Adopting from foster care

Lauri Burns, Founder of the Teen Project, shares advice for foster parents and those considering becoming one on the challenges of being a foster parent and how to overcome those challenges
Adoption Tips | Overcoming Challenges Of Being A Foster Parent | Kids in the House
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Adopting from foster care

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The most challenging thing when you're a foster parent is the one's that it doesn't take. When it doesn't take immediately, when you're just planting the seed, because these kids will try and push you away to prove to them if you love them. So they'll see how far they can push. Now what we've want them to know that we love them no matter what. We can do that even if we're creating safe boundaries and strong rules. I think there's a tough love thing that needs to exist there because they'll think you're setting them up for failures through life. So, to teach them that I will love you no matter what. That there are safety rules in our house that we must comply with. Once in a while you have to let go of the kid because they pushed it so far that they're now abusing others which is not okay. That's never okay but to let them know that you need to leave but we still love you. And in all the cases that I've seen so far, they straighten out and they come back. And for me as a kid, I never straightened out until people made me follow the rules. Until they held me accountable for what I was doing and I think it's just so valuable. You also need to know that these kids are hearing what your saying even though they may not be proving it in their actions. That you are plating the seeds and they will think the thoughts of the things you taught them later in life whether it is quickly or it happens way later. You need to know that you're the seed planter and even if you don't see the flower right now you know that it will grow.

Lauri Burns, Founder of the Teen Project, shares advice for foster parents and those considering becoming one on the challenges of being a foster parent and how to overcome those challenges

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Lauri Burns

Teen Project Founder & Author

Lauri Burns was once a “system kid”, a heroin addict and a prostitute. She is now a self-made success: a foster mom, the founder of one of the most recognized new charities in the US, the owner of an Information Technology firm, and author of Punished for Purpose, which chronicles her life struggles and the formula she used to become a success.

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