Some of our amazing Victor Resource Families recently sat down with us to talk about their experience. These foster parents share some of the joys and challenges of fostering. At Victor, we do our best to educate and prepare resource families for the fostering and adoption processes. There are a lot of great reasons to get involved with fostering, if you're interested in becoming what we call a "Resource Family" click here to find out more.

"Follow your heart, but be prepared to do the hardest thing you've ever done, but the most rewarding"

Video Transcript:

Becoming a Foster Parent

This is what it feels like to love children and in a sense be loved back by kids. So it's really unique and I'm sure a lot of people have experienced that because a lot of people have kids. - Peter

Well sometimes, even last week, we'll look at each other and go 'how do we have three kids running around our house? How did this happen in our lives?' It feels like such a blessing. - Jill

I wanted to have kids but it wasn't going to be able to happen, so we decided to give the love that we have to somebody that needed it. I asked her first if she wanted to; if that was an option for her and she was like, 'Oh my god, I always wanted to do that!' So from then on, we started figuring out what we needed to do to become foster parents. - Beatriz

Choosing Victor

We liked Victor best because their goal is to reunite families and I couldn't see myself without my parents, without my sisters, without her (partner), so I would want a kid to have that too. - Beatriz

I've never had a problem. I started with Victor and I'll stay with Victor. I'm not going another way. It's a good company. - Sonia

We're so happy to be with the company (Victor), especially because they're always there when we need something for the babies. To be close to the mom, it's so wonderful that we have all the support from Victor. - Hortencia

Training & Support

Our training was intense. It was eye-opening for a lot of things that I never even wondered, like 'Oh a kid really goes through this?' - Beatriz

There's various aspects of it that I was curious about. It's like, 'Okay I'm foster/adopt but we're supposed to kind of attach but not really too much, if it's reunification first, you can put your heart out there but at the same time you're supposed to keep a boundary too, because the first goal is to reunite with the family. - Peter

Life as a Foster Parent

I told my kids, everyone cleans because we live together in the house. Everyone goes to school. They have to come home, we do reading, do homework and we work together. - Sonia

The advice I would give is to go for it. Follow your heart, but be prepared to do the hardest thing you've ever done but the most rewarding thing that you've ever done. - Jill

The Victor Experience

The social workers become part of the family. The workers come in, bring toys, bring gifts. They know everything going on in the kids' lives, it's fun when the visits happen. Everything is intimidating when you're starting off. There's a lot of paperwork. There's a lot of rules. There's so many laws and things you don't know and I like that Victor comes and helps us with the county and the government agencies in trying to figure that out, because that's a lot to figure out. You can ask them any question, any time. - Jill

We chose Victor because they (the kids) are going to have anything they need, because Victor is always there for us. - Hortencia

All throughout, it's a highlight because I have kids that I'm really bonding with and it's a very unique experience that I never knew was there. I heard someone say, it's like the dream you never knew you had. - Peter

Victor is a good company. It's not a company, it's a family. - Sonia

At Victor we are all about family, from the structure of our organization to the way we interact with clients and employees, it's all about relationships. If you are considering fostering, please reach out to us to find out more. You provide the home and the heart, we provide the support you need to change the life of a young person. At  Victor Treatment Centers our mission is to be a catalyst for sustained improvement in the lives of those we touch. Together, we can help our kids and families soar.