Episode 57: Interview with Foster Mom of a Flamboyance of 6

May 11, 2019

A flamboyance is a group of 6 flamingos. And our guest this week, Anna Saunders, loves flamingos, and happens to be a part of a family of 6! Anna and her husband Woody, have been fostering for about 3 years now, and have had the privilege of caring for 11 children in that time!

Some things we mentioned in our discussion:

• Something that Anna learned the hard way, is that sometimes kids will enter foster care if their parents are suddenly incarcerated, or hospitalized, and there is no one else to watch them. These kids will be in care for a mere hours, or days. The case worker doesn't know that for certain, and do they do not communicate this with the foster family. This happened with our 2nd placement, who we had for 36 hours. His mom was in the hospital for a moment. And Anna's first placement was 48 hours, and completely devastating because she thought she was going to adopt them, and she never had a chance to say good bye.
• The age that you must be to legally become a foster parent is 21
• The Saunders are licensed through Child Crisis Arizona, a great organization in the Valley!
• If you are in the East Valley, and have been looking for a Foster Support Group, you can contact Anna about the one she runs at Sun Valley Community Church.

The (Good) Word of the Day

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

Taken from a devotional called "Triggers: Exchanging Parents' Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses" , and this one came from the day on exhaustion. Take care of yourselves mamas (and papas!)

And Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! We wanted to give a special shout out to our sweet friends who are celebrating their very first Mother's Days - Briana Lewis, Kathryn Robinson, and Nati Estrada! You women are phenomenal moms and have such beautiful hearts for serving kids in foster care!

If you want to connect on Social Media:

Jihae Watson on Facebook

Chris Watson on Facebook

Fostering Voices on Instagram

Jihae Watson on Instagram

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