A Natural Child in a Foster Care Home: Wasn’T the Tight-Knit Family My Friends Seemed to Have, but at the Same Time, It Was an Adventure—And It Was My Life.

By Tanja Luayne

A foster childs pain and challenges are very real, as are their successes and failures.

Take a look into a world where foster children and natural children grow side by side, experiencing life together and seeing some of those results. These true stories display deep feelings each child experienced as they walked through both disappointments and achievements.

These accounts are from the perspective of the young girl who grew up on a farm with her parents, 4 natural children, and 22 foster children. Each child special in their own way and all of them like a sibling to her.

Her story offers a unique perspective of the trials, blessings, joys and struggles that come from being a natural child in a foster care home. She shares her journey through her eyes as a child, a teenager and even as an adult. Her perspective shows the adventures and challenges while illustrating the life lessons learned and how she applies them today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Mar 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781462411825

Tanja Luayne

The author, Tanja, uses her childhood experiences to connect with people and help them get through tough times. For many reasons the names and locations in this book have been changed, but the heart of these stories come from real life experiences.   Tanja loves to help people see the positive side of life, even in its lowest places. Many times in conversation she encourages people to see their qualities and gifts they often don’t recognize themselves.   Her personal moto is, “Life is better when we help one another.”

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Copyright © 2016 Tanja Luayne.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-1181-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-1182-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016902503

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 3/9/2016

CONTENTS

Before The Foster Children Came

We Never Knew We Were Poor

When The Foster Kids Came

Where It All Began

When Basic Needs Are Not Enough

Teamwork

A Little Time Can Change A Life

Caught In His Crosshairs

Did I Ever Feel Slighted?

Were They Perfect Parents?

What Does It Mean…?

We Can’t Go Back

What I’ve Learned

INTRODUCTION

No one can imagine the fun, the sorrow, the joy, the sadness, the passion, or the many adventures of living in a home where so many kids came and went, with each child leaving a unique imprint on your heart.

Considering taking in foster children, but have children of your own? Hopefully this book can give you some insight of what it might be like and help you decide if it is a good decision for you and your family.

Today we have more information on how to raise healthy kids than my parents had. As many other people have done, my parents learned by stepping out and doing the best they knew how with what they had to work with.

BEFORE THE FOSTER

CHILDREN CAME

Imagine if you would, a little girl bounding down a sandy drive without a care in the world. Her thin blond hair bouncing with every skip as she makes her way through the soft, warm, sand toward the barns to play with the animals. She couldn’t look happier as her arms swing carelessly around her, her laughter carrying across the farm on the warm summer breeze. Life is simple, satisfying, full of love and joy.

Without a worry or a care in the world to encroach her perfect world, she runs and skips while singing funny songs. She had a mom and dad who loved her, brothers and a sister to play games with her, and plenty of animals to love. It seemed like the perfect world; but no perfect world can last forever. Change is bound to happen or time would have to stand still. This child and many more, had to grow up.

This was my childhood, or what it seemed like, when I was small. I was the little girl who bounded down the sandy drive. I didn’t know that we were poor. I didn’t know that my parents and older siblings worked very hard to keep us going. To me my life was rich beyond anything I could imagine. My sand box was a huge sand bank that reached clear across the side of my father’s machine shed. With an old tin plate, some rusty Tonka trucks, a few plastic cups, and sticks to build with, we made towns, castles and mud pies. None were prize worthy, but they were fun. Endless imagination was found in that sand.

I had no idea that the animals we raised were our living and what gave us our meat, or that the huge garden I loved was a necessity. To me it was all an adventure.

Mom and