Agency gives party for foster families who give year-round

Posted: 12/21/07

Agency gives party for foster
families who give year-round

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—Baptist Child & Family Service threw a Christmas party to honor foster families who display the Christmas spirit of giving all year long.

After experiencing pregnancy complications, doctors advised Ernest and Margaret Casillas not to keep trying to have children, although they wanted a bigger family.

After passing a sign advertising a need for foster parents and chatting with Baptist Child & Family Services case workers, the myth that they could not afford to foster was put to rest. Shortly afterward, they received their first foster child, David, who was classified as a special-needs child.

“We found that foster parenting made us better parents because you learn patience on a whole different level,” said Margaret.  “It’s amazing to be part of these children’s stories and watch a change take place in their lives.”

The Casillas family has grown to six children—two biological and four foster—all between the ages of six and eleven. They have learned to laugh at the looks they receive when they all pile out of the family van.

“Christmas is much more meaningful because these kids know they’re finally spending the holiday with a family who loves them,” Ernest said. “You have no idea how they spent Christmas last year, but you know that you want to make sure this one is a good one.”

Trinity Baptist Church and San Antonio businesses donated gift cards and services for the Christmas party.

The foster care Christmas party serves as an annual opportunity for families to network with others who are dealing with similar challenges.

Two families, the Zamagos and Romeros, sat together at the party, sharing a meal and discussing their recently adopted children, Matthew and Shan.  Both families participating in the BCFS foster-to-adopt program could not have guessed what this Christmas would look like one year ago.

David and Melissa Romero were fostering both Matthew and Shan last year, with only Matthew eligible for adoption and no children of their own. When Shan unexpectedly became available for adoption and the Romeros conceived after being told they were unable to become pregnant, they went from having no children to potentially having three.

“We’ve always treated our foster family as our real family, but thankfully we now know it’s forever,” Melissa said.

At the same time, the Zamagos were told that the child they were fostering to adopt was going back with his biological family, leaving them disappointed.

When the Romeros realized that they could not financially handle three children; Baptist Child & Family Services approached the Zamagos about adopting Matthew, who gratefully accepted.

“We’re just so thankful that Matthew ended up in a good home and we still get to see him at things like this,” Romero explained.

He also noted during the discussion that although he and his wife fostered four children, he was not always open to the idea of foster parenting.

It actually was only after a parent-teacher conference with one the mothers of a student in his class at school that he became open to the concept.

“She’s the reason we began foster parenting,” he said, referring to Lawonda Patterson, who runs a group home for high-risk teenagers.  She currently has ten young adults in the home—eight girls and two boys.

“My goal is that they leave the house healthy young adults,” Patterson said.  “I want to model a spirit of giving, which is what I try to instill in them.”

She considers last year as the best Christmas yet “because it was our first in the newly built home, and it was amazing to see the gratitude of the girls.”