Shannon and Greg's home is a busy place. The living room is dominated by a five-foot-high play castle. There are the train tracks around the entire perimeter of the room. The couple purchased the train set for one of their current foster placements, a preschooler they call “RJ,” who is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine.
He joined the family and their current placement, a toddler called “JJ,” for a short stay. This was an emergency exception to the Angels Foster Family Network policy of fostering one child or sibling set at a time.
There’s no shortage of toys, or children, at Shannon and Greg's house. They have seven children of their own: four adults and three at home. Shannon and Greg have always had a special connection with children, so fostering was an idea they were drawn to.
When Shannon was in high school, her parents fostered an eight-year-old girl, who remains part of their family. Shannon’s parents continued fostering, six children total, until they reached their seventies, so she knows what a positive impact a stable, loving home can make in the life of a child. “These children may be in our home temporarily, but there is nothing temporary about the love and connection we share with them,“ Shannon says. “We consider each of them family forever. Our goal is to communicate to the kids that each of them is significant, special, safe, and unconditionally loved.”
Greg has been an educator for 30 years. He’s been an English teacher, Associated Student Body Advisor, wrestling coach, and principal at middle and high schools. He says he enjoys his role as a mentor, especially to children who have been marginalized or slipped through the cracks. "I've had a front-row seat to what trauma looks like,” he says, noting that this was something that simultaneously attracted and frightened him about fostering. “I had a protective position. What impact would fostering have on our family? Do we have the bandwidth for this?”
Shannon asked Greg to attend an information session at Angels Foster Family Network, and that’s when the scales tipped. “She had been working on me for several years, but when we went to the session, I just said, ‘Sign me up, we don’t even need to talk about this.’ When the bell is rung, you can respond or ignore it, and we don’t want to regret not answering this call.”
Although Shannon was familiar with fostering, she was surprised by how soon they bonded with the children in their care. “I was caught off guard by how attached we got so quickly,” she says of the family’s first placement. “We both just cried and cried when we dropped him off with his grandfather,” she recalls. But the couple agrees the pain was worth the reward.
“Fostering is an opportunity to love these kids back to health and watch them grow more secure and confident,” says Greg. “Saying goodbye to JJ is going to be brutal. We were here for his first word, first step, first teeth.” Shannon nods emphatically. Greg continues. “When I die, I will have regrets, but taking care of these kids won’t be one of them.”
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