When their son Soren was a toddler, Karla and Marc knew they had room in their hearts and home for more children. They were unable to have another biological child, so they started looking into adoption. After two failed adoptions – one due to a baby’s death during childbirth, the other where the couple fell victim to adoption fraud – they figured that adoption was not in the cards for them. They took a year to regroup and decide how they would move forward in growing their family.
“We shifted our mentality and focused on where the need was,” explains Karla. “We thought, there’s such a long wait to adopt, clearly there’s not a need. We have the love and resources to give a child now.” That was when a friend who worked at a local children’s legal advocacy organization told Karla and Marc about Angels Foster Family Network. She told the couple that the nonprofit had a sterling reputation which goes above and beyond in its commitment to resource families.
Karla and Marc attended an Angels information session and learned there was a dire shortage of resource families in San Diego County. They also had a chance to hear from a current Angels family and ask questions about the joys and challenges of fostering. “The couple that spoke represented the organization well,” Marc says.
Six years later, Karla and Marc have now fostered five young children ranging from 17 months to 6 years old. As Angels requires, each resource family accepts one child or sibling set at a time. Karla and Marc’s shortest placement lasted two weeks; their longest was 22 months.
Typically, Angels focuses on newborns to 5-year-old children, but Karla and Marc’s oldest placement, “J.J.,” was an exception because he had been with the family years earlier as a toddler, and recently returned to the foster care system. “We’d stayed in touch and were like extended family, so it made sense for J.J. to stay with us again,” Karla says. Today, J.J. is part of the household that includes 12-year-old Soren, their biological son, and 6-year-old Jameson, who was an Angels placement they adopted.
“We went into fostering to foster,” Karla clarifies. “We had turned the page and were fully committed to fostering.” Then Angels asked if the couple was open to adopt a little boy. Once again, they shifted their focus. Marc explains, “With fostering, you can’t have a fixed agenda. We just bring love to the children and families for as long as they are with us.”
“Our greatest joy has been watching families reunify,” Karla adds. “It’s been a great privilege to see a parent make a huge transformation.”
Fostering has not been without its difficulties. “Our son Soren has sacrificed a lot,” Karla explains. Younger children in the foster care system require a great deal of time and attention. Some of Soren’s favorite toys have been destroyed. He understands the value of fostering, but it can be frustrating, the parents say. Still, the positive impact of fostering far outweighs the costs. “It’s hard but there’s a huge benefit and I wouldn’t change a thing,” says Karla.
Can you help with a recurring contribution?
Interested in fostering, too? 
Can you help make a difference? 
