P.S 70 1691 Weeks avenue,
Bronx, NY 10457

Anchor Parents:

• Grace Zarate
• Henrietta Jones
  

Ever since childhood, I wanted to take care of younger children, and when I had my children, I still reached out to take care of children of others. When I was introduced to foster care I had no idea what foster care was about. However my son at the age of 14 brought home to me a young girl who was sexually assaulted by her uncle. She begged me to allow her to stay in my home because she could no longer take the sexual assaults. Her story touched my heart and the following morning I went to Bronx Family court to seek custody. What I thought would have been a long drawn out process was executed expeditiously.

After she had been living with me for one week, she asked me if I would consider getting her sister who lived on St. Christopher’s Inc. Dobbs Ferry Campus. At first I was apprehensive, but I made the necessary calls to find out how I can reunite these two siblings. I then received foster parent training. Upon completion of the training, I was able to reunite these two siblings. Their mother and I established a relationship and became friends until her death. Since I became a resource, parent, I have had between 35-40 children in my home. They were comprised of sibling groups, and mother and baby. I have adopted one child who is my pride and joy.

As a foster parent I have become a better individual. The children I have opened my doors and have taught me how to listen, they have shown me how to be compassionate, and empathetic. My children have also taught me patience and understanding. I thought I had all these attributes already, but my children helped me to broaden what I already possess.

The Circle of Support has allowed me to meet other foster and adoptive parents who have had similar or different experiences. Through these experiences, we have established a network. Our monthly meetings address different topics, which enable me to better help my children and other foster and adoptive parents seeking assistance. The Circle of Support staff friendliness and support encouraged me to be more assertive. The Circle of Support training enhanced my leadership qualities. More importantly Circle of Support gave Foster and Adoptive parents the ability to come together as a collective body to learn from each other and to support each other in their time of need.

To end my story, the young girl that introduced me into the foster care system became my daughter in law. Her and my son has been together for sixteen years. They have given me one grand child who is now eleven years old.

Grace Zarate can be reached at 718-295-2391.

I made the decision to become a Foster Parent after taking one of my Masonic brothers to Upstate New York to visit his son, who was incarcerated. I saw how full the prisons were with young black men and at that instant, I realized that I wanted do what I could to make a difference. It was then that I decided to become a Foster Parent and hopefully try and save some of our young children from getting into trouble and being put away. As the African proverb states, “it takes a whole village to raise a child”, I decided to become an active part of the village and devote my efforts to this childrearing process.

After taking classes to become a Foster Parent, I actively pursued children from ages five to eleven, but the first call I received was for me to take a child who was fourteen. I was a little skeptical about taking a child in that age range, but after being told that the child’s mother recently died of cancer, and having also experienced my own mother’s death two months earlier to this disease, I was moved to take the girl into my care. From that point on, I only wanted girls in this age range so that they could be companions for each other.

One of my fondest memories is when my husband (then fiancé) rented a fifteen passenger van and drove my foster daughters, one of my biological daughter’s foster child and myself to Michigan for my sister’s retirement. This was the first time any of the girls had been outside of New York. We traveled through Pennsylvania through the snow, across mountain peaks and valleys. When we arrived in Michigan, we were all treated to first-class service in a magnificent townhouse. The girls romped around liked children on Christmas morning throughout the townhouse. Every floor, cubicle, dresser or closet seemed like the invitation to a new adventure for them. When I finally caught a glimpse of their eyes, I realized for the first time that I had stolen each of their hearts. The trip provided an excellent opportunity for us to bond as a family, and bond we did. Another fond memory goes back three years ago, when my last foster daughter, fifteen year old Maria, came into my home. Being of Indian descent, she expressed some concerns she had with us. Her exact words were “I’m afraid of people of color and I am afraid to eat your food”. After seeing the love that was expressed in our home, it was only a matter of a day or so before she had become very comfortable with us, and within a matter of a couple of weeks, she was beating us all to the dinner table. All the love showed in her love handles because she went from weighing 95 pounds to a healthy to 115 pounds. Maria is now twenty years old, has graduated college, and is once again living with me.

Parenting brings upon challenges and concerns that you are not always prepared to deal with alone. It helps tremendously to have the Circle of Support, a Network of Foster and Adoptive Parents, administrators and others to assist whenever the needs arise. Being a part of the Circle of Support has enabled me to hear the experiences of other Foster Parents and to share my stories and experiences with them as well.