luminousminds

My friend Julia recently told me she wouldn’t mind fostering a child. It was the first time anyone close to me has ever said this. So it was a little surprising. But what I realized was even more surprising was the fact that this is hardly even considered in my circles. No one talks about foster children, or fostering children for that matter. The word “foster”, in fact, seems rarely ever used. As if… there’s a stigma attached to it.

Does our society at large (media, the general poplution) largely ignore the fact that there are so many children needing to be taken care of? I mean, why is it not in our face more? Seems we only hear about this sector of life when it has to do with the ‘problems’ that have arisen in a particular foster care home. Am I right or am I just part of the denying problem, gladly ignoring what I am not literally faced with or personally challenged by?!

“To cultivate, encourage, promote, further, advance.” This is the meaning of foster. Do we do this enough as a society in general? Do we recognize the true importance of helping little ones thrive? I’m sure the answer is no. But how do we turn this around? How do we encourage ourselves and others to care more for other peoples’ children? And to want to change or improve a system?

We start by bringing the need, the problem more out into the forefront. And then we discuss solutions that might not have yet been considered or thought fully through.

There are few simple solutions for challenges like these. This doesn’t mean we should ignore the problems, however.

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