Fostering gives you a gift of seeing potential long before it has bloomed.
Helping parents understand what feelings and moods are normal and what might need a little extra attention.
What is a miracle? One answer I found in the Free Online Dictionary says, “An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin, or an act of God.” I believe miracles happen every day. Sometimes they go unnoticed because people live their lives with their eyes “closed” and never get to see it. Well, let me share our miracle with you.
Years ago when I was engaged to my wife, we discussed adopting at least one child someday. Fast forward 15 years, the time had arrived when we started looking into the adoption process. At the time our son was 9 years old and our daughter was 5. I started investigating adopting a girl from China. I found out it would cost $40,000 and you would have to stay in China for two weeks – something we couldn’t afford to do. Then the Haiti earthquake struck. I read that there were 100,000 homeless kids living on the streets. I started making calls and was told that it would take a year and $25,000 to adopt a child. I knew we couldn’t afford to do that, either.
Meanwhile, we kept hearing radio and TV commercials for foster parents. So we sat down as a family and discussed becoming a foster family. The entire family agreed to do this. My daughter immediately said, “Can we get our Chinese baby now?” We explained to our kids God will decide if someone needs to stay with us forever. Otherwise, we love the kids, get them healthy and back to their family as soon as possible. Not long after our family meeting we began taking foster placements. We never asked much more than how old and is it a boy or a girl (so we could set up an extra bed in one of the rooms).
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, I received a call about an 11-month-old girl. Our previous foster placements had all been boys. She was with a foster family for 2 days, and they were leaving on vacation. She needed to be placed with another family immediately. Of course, I said, “Bring her over.” When she arrived, she had a baby blanket over her face. The social worker removed the blanket and handed her to me. I will never forget this: the baby didn’t know what to do, so she kissed me.
We were told that she would probably only be with us for 60 days. Throughout her stay with us, we knew that she could be leaving at any time. Finally, a couple months later, we received the call that she was going to leave on Thursday. The social worker was going to pick her up at 5 p.m. The entire family said their goodbyes, and honestly we shed tons of tears. At about 5:15 p.m. Thursday, I received a call from the social worker and she said the baby needed to stay with us. Fast forward almost 3 years later to Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, this 4-year-old Asian girl became a permanent member of the Dukatz family. She is our little miracle and we had our eyes open the whole time.
Fostering gives you a gift of seeing potential long before it has bloomed.
5-year-old Jude has been treated for retinoblastoma for most of his life — but his spirit has never wavered.
Care has never been closer to home for families in Northeast Wisconsin.
Drawing on his own experience, Dr. John Densmore is improving care for kids with sunken chest.
Care at Children’s Wisconsin led Nick Nora to pursue a career in medicine.
Evangelina and Ricardo Hernandez share their foster care journey.
For kids with chronic pain, a new intensive program is giving them relief.
