Some wonder, how does foster care adoption work? This week we chat with Mandie Francisco and her family about their growth through foster care.
How It All Started
In 2012 Mandie Francisco and her husband gained the inspiration to foster after their friends shared their experience. It brought a lot of emotions to them and they decided to be proactive and try to help kids in need. They both agreed that they had more room to grow their family of 4. A year later in 2013, they completed the licensing process and they prepared for their first placement.
They received a few placement calls while on a family road trip and they said yes to all the placements. Unfortunately, they didn’t return in time to complete the placements. Mandie and her family felt sad that they couldn’t be a loving home to those kids but hoped that they found loving homes elsewhere.
A Welcomed Surprise
While on the road trip they found out she was pregnant. They decided they could only foster two children. Around the same time, they received another placement call about two girls that needed placement. Mandie and her husband immediately said yes but unfortunately they could not foster any kids until her new baby turned 1.
The Foster Care Adoption Process in Action
After the family met the requirements to foster again they had the opportunity to take in the girls that they wanted to a year prior. They said yes after looking at their file and the placement happened on December 15, 2015.
The Francisco’s were excited to take in the girls but also accepted the idea of reunifying them with their mother if it was the best option. The adoption process took longer than expected because the bio mother did try to appeal the TPR. Unfortunately, reunification did not seem like the best option because she did not seem fit to take care of the girls. But eventually they did complete the adoption on June 12, 2017.
The Best Memory from a Foster Care Adoption
Through the entire process, one of the best memories that Mandie has is when they finally changed the girls’ last name. The oldest one got the surprise during school and got to celebrate with her entire class!
Mandie firmly believes that parents shouldn’t fight over kids in the foster system. Everyone should be in the system to try to make the kids’ lives easier. If reunification is the best option then a foster parent should be supportive. The most important thing is making life easier for the kids.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, we’d like to thank you, Mandie Francisco, for sharing her foster care adoption story. For those who are in the process of fostering to adopt, Foster Love – Together We Rise offers free adoption day photography through our Framing Forever program. Click here for more information!
