Sara shared her kinship experience with Beech Acres Parenting Center. Read the interview below.

How has being a Kinship Caregiver impacted your life?

We were on the verge of retiring, with one child graduating high school and another one just starting high school. We never imagined having four more young children to raise. Having three toddlers and a school-age child added into our mix has been a challenge at times, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. These four have never had a stable home. They were in four different foster or kinship homes before they came to us. They have an unfortunate history that I would never want any child to go through. We are trying to bring security and unconditional love to them all. They have experienced trauma, and if we would not have stepped up to take them, we don’t know what would have happened to them. We were placed in each other’s paths at just the right time for them. 

What made you consider becoming licensed through Beech Acres Parenting Center?   

We were told we had to have a foster license through a private company. We both researched different places in our area. We wanted to make sure we chose someone that would work with us being kinship into foster and finally adoption. This was new to many different private organizations. Beech Acres was welcoming and helpful and has been a great wealth of information since we began this journey. 

How has Beech Acres supported you?

From kinship support to licensing for foster care and now into the adoption phase, Beech Acres has been available to help all the way through the process. We had a great person who worked our home study and understood our situation. Our current caseworker is wonderful to work with and fits in well with the caseworker from Summit County. They have both helped with getting local help for us and connecting with local programs to Beech Acres. We are truly grateful for the experiences these four are now getting with her help.