Incredible Families Fall in Love with Countless Foster Babies Waiting To Be Adopted
Families come in all shapes and sizes. There are families with one kid, families with 20 kids, and families with furry kids.
There are also people who love to adopt children into their family, and there are couples who foster kids for a period of time.
In Texas, there is a new type of family called the transitional care family. These families are like foster parents, but they don’t get paid.
The families watch over babies while their adoption is in process. The baby usually goes to a family if there are legal issues during the adoption process. The family then cares for the baby until the new parents are ready to take their little one home.
Nancy and Mike Linstrom are a couple who takes care of babies while they wait for the adoption to be completed. They and their three daughters love to reach out and take in newborns who are waiting to go home with their parents.
Taking care of a baby and falling in love with it for such a short amount of time can be difficult for some people, but the Linstroms love to help any way they can.
“It is ultimately what we want. We want the baby to have that forever home,” Nancy said.
She and her family have watched 86 children over the past 10 years. Nancy keeps pictures of them in photo albums like she would her own children.
“We love them like we love our biological children. We love them all,” she said. “That is why all of us do it, because we get attached. Because that is what that baby needs. They need love. They need attachment.”
The Linstroms aren’t the only family; there are dozens of transitional care families in northern Texas that work with the Gladney Center for Adoption.
“We honestly couldn’t function the way we do without them. They’re an absolute Godsend,” Gladney CEO and president Mark Melson said.
The Gladney Center used to have a nursery on site, but when it closed, they had to find a new solution. They decided to ask families if they would be willing to watch babies for a few weeks or up to a few months as the adoption process was completed.
The families do not get paid, but they do get the training and background checks like normal foster parents do.
There have been families who have been helping for years, and some have watched over 100 babies.
Mindy Tullis’ family is another family that has joined the movement. They have been helping for two years, and they make sure they get a footprint from every baby they help on the nursery wall.
“Everybody says, isn’t it hard?” Mindy said. “You fall in love with these babies and then you give them to someone else. And it’s hard, for a minute. But the excitement of handing this baby to couples who have been so eagerly waiting for them is worth every second.”
It is such an inspiration to see people offer their homes, families, and love to so many babies so unconditionally.
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