Sunday, November 4, 2007

First Post

This is my first post on blogger. My name is Andrew (or at least that what I'll be calling myself) and I live in a family that fosters. I myself am a bio kid (as in the biological child of the parents I live with.) I'm not sure yet how I want to set this thing up or how often I want to post on it. So I thought I would start by just answering questions, both general and specific, and I plan on answering the questions as posts. I might, if I have time, give some kind of background or history.
First off for those of you who have come form Yondalla's (my mother) page (http://pflagfostermom.blogspot.com/) you did find the right page, I am her son. I know (or can find out) the names she's using for every one so feel free to ask specific sorts of questions if you want and I'll try to answer them.
For those who have by some miracle found this page by accident I'm eighteen and my family has been fostering since I was around ten years old. I have one younger brother through birth, three older ones through fostering, two siblings both younger than me who didn't end up staying with us, and a bunch of other kids who have stayed with us for respite (temporary care.) Overall it's been a pretty good experience if not always easy.
I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have... well that might not actually be true but I've set the comments so that I have to approve them through email so fire away.

9 comments:

Mary said...

Welcome aboard, Andrew! I'm looking forward to the questions and answers!

Stacie Guesswork (aka Mrs Butter B) said...

1. We're about to start officialling fostering- what advice do you give to my 14 yr old daughter (who's always been the spoiled baby) in how to make this work? She's thinking its going to be a blast- younger sibs to play with yada yada...

2. What, out of all the sibs you have (foster & bio not respite) do you find the hardest to deal with?

3. How are you doing since the whole Frankie thing happened? Did it change your perspective on blended houses?

And hey, thanks for blogging. You're the first sib I've ever read that blogged about fc.

FosterAbba said...

Just leaving a comment to say hello...

Other Mother said...

Welcome to blogging, Andrew! I'm a foster mom, and look foward to hearing things from your perspective. I hope things are settling down now in your family, and you're enjoying some time together.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, I seem to be the first one to leave a comment on your blog, cool! Well, first of all, welcome to the blogosphere!

So as regular readers of Yondalla's journal, we are familiar with the facts, and her perspectives on your foster-siblings. But as we have all experienced, growing up with siblings can be challenging sometimes. And I'd bet your perspectives on fostering and your foster-siblings have be variable depending on the person, and has probably changed over time as well. I'd be curious about that.

Kerry said...

Okay, I'll start. Thanks for setting up a blog.

What have been the best and worst parts of being a foster sibling?

Would you foster when you have your own children, and why or why not?

What would you do differently?

Kerry

Anonymous said...

Okay, here are a couple of questions.

I am going to start with the assumption that you agree with the whole foster family thing, since I know you were consulted. Do you think, overall, there have been more positives or negatives about the experience? I will even go so far as to assume that as a whole it has been a positive thing in retrospect, but if you break it down do you think in each individual placement that, for you and/or your family, there have been more positive or negative things to deal with. I ask because perhaps not all families could deal with things as well as yours.

Next question: Do you think it would have been better to stop with one placement or has it been better to keep adding kids?

Deb Cohler said...

How (if at all) has having gay, older brothers impacted you? Specifically, I am wondering if/how being a member of a PFLAG family has impacted your social relationships at school, but I would be interested in your other related thoughts.
Thanks, and happy blogging!

wen said...

I'm curious if you'd consider fostering when you are older.

I'm also curious what you think the best thing about having foster-sibs is, and what has been hardest for you.

Looking forward to the answers!