Henry/Weakley County Foster Parent Association

Henry/Weakley County Foster Parent Association This page is to help promote and grow awareness in our communities of the Henry/Weakley County Foster Parent Association.

04/08/2025

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12/31/2021

“Well, you can’t help ‘em all.”

You’re right, I can’t. But I can help one. Or two or ten or 200. And so can you.

And for that 1, 2, 10, 200, it could mean everything.

For all the staggering numbers of the staggering needs of the children & families in my community & country & world, I have my own numbers I bring to the table.

Like the hours in my day, the beds in my home, the dollars in my bank account, the spaces in my heart. And most of all, this one life of mine, lived & poured out for The One and the ones He so loves.
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instagram.com/fosterthefamilyblog

🎄 🎁 We have been blessed by some wonderful donations but it seems to have come to a stop…Please consider shopping from o...
12/03/2021

🎄 🎁 We have been blessed by some wonderful donations but it seems to have come to a stop…

Please consider shopping from our Amazon or WalMart lists 🎁

We have 35 kiddos that deserve a good Christmas!

Links are below….
If you don’t shop online but would like to give you can also donate money. Just reach out to us and we will help 🙂

https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/92nztEh?ref_=wl_share

https://www.walmart.com/lists/shared/WL/e9dcc9fe-4500-440d-8133-335c7ea6e556

It is working!! Even if you cannot purchase…the sharing is working!! In less than 12 hours we have marked 11 items off t...
11/23/2021

It is working!!

Even if you cannot purchase…the sharing is working!!

In less than 12 hours we have marked 11 items off the list!! Thank you all!!

Please keep sharing!!

It is that time of year again when we come to you, the community, and ask for help this Christmas season. We have 27 chi...
11/23/2021

It is that time of year again when we come to you, the community, and ask for help this Christmas season. We have 27 children in the Henry and Weakley County areas that have given us a list of their wants and needs.

We created a "Christmas List" on Amazon so that you can easily shop and all the gifts will come to one address. We the association will make sure all the gifts get delivered to the families.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3OE2IJ72RK7MT?ref_=wl_share

BUT there are other ways you can help too....
You can send money if you do not want to shop online.
- PayPal at [email protected]
- Mail checks to 110 East Hill Street, Martin, TN 38237

If you are not able to give...that is OK! If you will help us spread the word by sharing this post...that too is a HUGE help!

Last year...this community came through above and beyond and I know we can do it again this year!

We hope to everything cleared off the list by December 16th.

Please stay tuned for updates along the way!

09/12/2021

This!

09/07/2021

When the baby was in the hospital, a fellow foster momma set up a meal train for our family for three months straight & even now, randomly someone will bring a homemade meal to our doorstep.

There is a grandma figure that picks up my 10 year old for gymnastics on Wednesday nights & then takes her to dinner afterwards.

I have a neighbor who offers to run to the pharmacy & pick up prescriptions on her way home from work for me.

My sister took all the classes to become a babysitter for our foster kiddos so my husband & I could get some much needed date nights in.

As a family of 8 we are rarely invited places, but every Sunday night some friends invite us over for dinner & they love on my kids no matter how much chaos we bring.

I get texts & messages letting us know we are being prayed for almost daily.

Every foster family needs support like this but don’t assume we will ask for help when we need it, because we rarely will. There’s often this feeling in foster care of ‘we signed up for this so we must do this alone’ & the weight of that statement lays heavy on our shoulders. It took years for me to actually start asking for help & by then I was already drowning. So run the errands, babysit, offer respite, bring a meal or a coffee, donate, go help fold the piles of laundry we’re swimming in, offer tutoring or simply just check in on us. You don’t have to make a commitment to foster or adopt to help those of us who do & when I tell you everyone can do something that literally means everyone. Yes, even you; because when you do, you’re helping people like me be able to keep saying ‘yes’.

Get her shirt 👉🏽 https://www.goodsandbetterstore.com/?ref=chelseafloro coupon code: REALLIFEFOSTER

08/27/2021

She alway had to have her water bottle. It laid on the floor beside the bath every morning & she would constantly lean over to make sure it was still there. At night, she would fall asleep snuggling it tight like most little girls would with their favorite baby doll. That bottle went everywhere with her & when she couldn’t find it there was no doubt we would experience a full out, on the floor, uncontrollable tantrum.

Half the time she wouldn’t even drink the water or it would spill, causing yet another tantrum. It was frustrating & exhausting.

I wonder if those who saw & stared thought she was just being bad & that I should have had a better handle on my child; but while others might have been judging what they could see, I had to take into consideration all the things they couldn’t. Like that carrying her water bottle allowed her to let her guard down around others. & when she ran out or couldn’t find the bottle, she mentally & physically struggled to regulate because for the first four years of her life she was severely neglected, sometimes homeless & seldomly had access to clean drinking water like kids should. & when they could afford a hotel she would watch her mom incapacitated, laying on the couch while crying to wake her up; until the day a social worker came to remove her. That social worker brought her to the hospital & it was found that she was so malnourished & dehydrated she needed immediate medical attention.

That water bottle was given to her during her stay in the hospital & even at four years old, she knew it made her feel safe.

This is trauma. It doesn’t always have a look from the outside but it’s deep rooted & can cause a trauma response anytime, anywhere for as small of a reason as forgetting a water bottle in the car. So instead of judging that mama when her child is melting down, maybe ask how you can help because often the behavior we see in our kids is just a symptom of something much deeper.

Follow our every day life on Instagram 👉🏽 https://www.instagram.com/reallifefostermom/?hl=en

08/07/2021

I made a playlist of songs I would listen to over & over again in the hospital those three months we were inpatient with our foster son. Only songs that were happy & upbeat made it on there. When we finally got home in March I stopped playing my music on repeat & went back to our chaotic & busy life outside of the hospital; not to mention I had listened to that playlist so much I was hearing the songs in my sleep.

This week, 130 days after we discharged from the hospital, I decided to turn my playlist back on while doing laundry.

When the first song came on, Immediately I felt this icky heaviness in my stomach. I got more annoyed about how much laundry I had to do. The next song came on & then the next; I became restless & increasingly irritated, almost angry. I started to question if I drank enough coffee that morning or if I was hangry or maybe I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, but I just continued to fold the clothes.

Then another song came on & I had a flashback of a specific picture from the hospital. I could see his body with wires & bruises & needle holes. Everything came flooding back. The same physical fear came over me that I had felt so many of those days sitting in that room. In my head I could hear his shrill screams & remember leaning over the hospital bed, with his hand in mine, tears falling down my face while singing this song quietly in his ear, hoping he would stop.

I realized about halfway into that song I was reliving hospital trauma that I had forgotten about or suppressed or thought was long removed. I turned off the music, but all day I had to fight this lingering agitation that remained.

This is what trauma does—besides physically changing brain structures, it can produce intense emotions & behaviors out of no where. Everything can be fine for our kiddos for days or weeks or even months like they were for me & then, they’re not. It can be hard for people to recognize trauma or process how something invisible can so quickly cause these behaviors in our kids that outside eyes see as “bad”.

But If a few songs triggered trauma behaviors in a trauma trained, self-aware adult like me, imagine how smells, sounds, touch, foods or even words can affect our children with little coping mechanisms & brains that are still developing.

So maybe when he knocks his oatmeal bowl to the ground & storms off it’s not because he really wanted pancakes; but because it reminds him of the summer he was removed & all he was given to eat was dry oatmeal three times a day, but he can’t yet verbalize his feelings.

Or the smell of your garden makes her weep uncontrollably, not because she doesn’t want to help you, but because her & her momma had started growing one together before she was removed.

Or maybe when he’s screaming at you, he’s not being bad, maybe it’s really to drown out the flashbacks he’s having of his abuser laying on top of him.

So when those times arise & we can see these children struggling, we need to be willing to look beyond our definition of “bad behaviors” & walk them through what could quite possibly be past trauma rearing it’s ugly head.

Follow our every day life on Instagram 👉🏽  https://www.instagram.com/reallifefostermom/?hl=en

07/15/2021

The day our toddler first smiled at my husband and me, we knew we were her parents. What we didn't know was how much we'd rely on medical professionals, educators and mentors over the next 13 years to help raise her.

Address

5350 Highway 118
Dresden, TN
38225

Opening Hours

12pm - 1pm

Telephone

(731) 514-4979

Website

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