Meet Our Families - Jan

Meet Jan!
Jan has been a foster parent with MCJFS for 45 years! Jan does not keep count of how many children have come through her home, but she remembers every child by name and has stories to tell about each one. Jan and her husband initially fostered children of all ages, but Jan has been fostering infants only since her husband passed away. 

Beginnings
After we got married, my husband and I wanted to adopt, but most places were closing the door on adoptions at that time. We went to an adoption seminar where we heard the term “foster care” for the first time. We approached Medina County Job and Family Services about becoming foster parents. A case worker came to our house to talk with us. A few weeks later, we had 2 children placed in our home. That was in 1979.

Likes
The very best thing in foster care is when a child goes back to a parent who has changed their life. That is the whole point of the foster care system, and what the agency works hard to accomplish.

Challenges
Sometimes I don’t like the situations that the children have come from and that can be hard to accept. It’s also tough to let a kid go, but the agency prepares you and you know when that time is coming.

Advice
Listen to the foster parent training. Go into your foster care journey with open eyes and be willing to learn from others with lived experience. It might not turn out the way you think it will, but God has a plan and it might be something you never even thought of.