Thorns Among the Briar Roses

This story is a true account of one family's trials and enjoyment of fostering children; some names have been changed to protect the guilty. Our family didn't choose to foster; fostering was thrust upon us. It was a very gradual process that endured for fifteen years. The need to tell this story became an obsession and was exacerbated each time I read about adults receiving light sentences for destroying innocent children's lives. I hope that anyone contemplating fostering will read this and weigh up the consequences of being ill equipped to cope with emotionally unstable humans. There are good ad bad sides to caring; really caring, for other people's children. The most commonly asked question any foster-parent hears is, "e;How can you love them, then give them up?"e;My standard answer was always the same. If we can show just one child what being loved is all about, even for a short period of time, it will give him or her a dream to follow.