{"id":27633,"date":"2021-02-17T10:44:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T14:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=27633"},"modified":"2021-02-28T21:10:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T01:10:54","slug":"foster-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/foster-system\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foster System: Rachel Hollis Struggled as a Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you considering becoming a parent<\/a> in the American foster system? Are you already a foster parent and dealing with the many struggles that come with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a time, Rachel Hollis, author of Girl, Wash Your Face <\/em>was a foster mom in the foster system. She shares the difficult and personal journey she had to go through in her hopes of adopting a daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to hear about Hollis’s foster system experience and her tips on how to persevere through difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Navigating a Difficult Journey<\/strong> Through the Foster System<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Hollis, author of Girl, Wash Your Face,<\/em> tells the story of her family\u2019s adoption journey because, though it was incredibly difficult and painful, she hopes to empower and inform other potential adoptive families or those entering the foster system as a foster parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While pregnant with her third son, she and her husband decided they wanted to adopt a little girl someday. They decided on international adoption in Ethiopia because they were moved to help the orphan crisis in that country in a small way. After two years of paperwork, blood tests, interviews and all the red tape required by international adoption, they were informed that Ethiopia was \u201cpausing\u201d its adoption program. They had faith and stayed in the program, but six months later, the country permanently closed adoptions to the U.S. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still believing they were meant to find their daughter, they decided to pursue adopting through the foster system in the U.S., knowing how many children were in need of love and care. But they had no idea how difficult the foster system-to-adopt program would be, including managing relationships with biological parents and experiencing the trauma of children being transitioned out of their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were called to care for a medically fragile baby, then asked to take her toddler sister, becoming a family with 5 children overnight. After those children transitioned out of their home, they were asked to care for newborn twin girls who would be available to adopt. Despite prior hurt and misgivings, they accepted and were thrilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Struggles of Being a Parent in the Foster System<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While caring for the twins, they found out they were under investigation for child abuse after an anonymous call to a child abuse hotline.<\/strong> This was traumatic and upsetting to the whole family. The charges were unfounded, but an in-depth investigation had to take place. Anyone can make an anonymous call and it\u2019s quite common for it to happen out of spite or revenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt awful exposing her kids to intense interrogations and realized how na\u00efve she had been about the reality of the foster system world. Worst of all, in the midst of this investigation, they found out their twin girls weren\u2019t actually available for adoption — a biological father had wanted them all along. They had been lied to, misled and taken advantage of by the foster system — and still had to endure the intense ongoing child abuse allegations, which ultimately were labeled \u201cinconclusive,\u201d which is as good as it gets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this devastating experience, Hollis\u2019s husband fought to continue their journey through independent adoption. Though wary and daunted, she agreed not to give up, and they were ultimately able to adopt their daughter Noah through independent adoption and not the foster system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this painful journey, she chose to have faith, move forward, and see her experiences positively instead of being angry. She found the good in the situation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n