It’s that time of year again: back to school. While August and September are difficult for any parent sending their child back to school, it can be especially challenging for those with college students. Whether you have one child entering their first year of college, or the youngest of three beginning their freshman year, coming home to a quiet house can leave you feeling like an empty nester.
Having an empty nest is tough, but there is a way to turn feelings of loneliness into something positive for you and a child in need of a loving home. If you’ve sent your child off to college this year, it is the perfect time to consider becoming a foster parent.
When your child leaves home, you have the extra space, you have the years of knowledge and experience, and if you have a desire to help better the lives of those in your community, foster care may be the choice for you! Foster care can certainly be challenging and the idea may seem overwhelming at first, but for those who are eager to help and are looking for fulfillment after their own children have flown from the nest, it is an amazing journey.
Of course, potential foster parents never go through the process alone. With the many resources available from the Norfolk Department of Human Services and Norfolk Friends of Foster Care, foster parents in Hampton Roads have a full support system behind them. If you think you might be interested in becoming a foster parent, take the foster/adoptive parent self-survey, and contact Norfolk DHS today.
