- Staci and Christian Blalock have fostered 18 children in the past ten years.
- Twins Taytum and Tremaine were the Blalock's second-ever placement, and the first set of children they adopted.
- Soon, they will be adopting four children who will be unable to reunite with their biological family.
Staci and Christian Blalock knew early on in their marriage that foster care was the path for them, admiring others in their lives who did the same. However, they never expected it to pan out as it has.
Staci shares, "The reality is, the kids who are in foster care are in foster care for a reason. There is a lot of healing that needs to talk place." Twins Taytum and Tremaine were the Blalock's second-ever placement, coming into their home when they were just nine weeks old, and were adopted in September 2016.
Stasia Milligan, Chief Program Officer at Family Service & Children's Aid, explains, "A little less than half of all of the children that come into the foster care system are unable to be returned to their parents, because their parents are unable to overcome the barriers that brought their children into foster care."
The Blalock's journey of fostering over the past decade has not been an easy one. Staci shares one of the hardest experiences the couple has experienced during their journey. We had a placement who was with us for a really long time, and after they left, we ended up taking a whole year off. Just because we knew we weren't in a place where we could open our hearts up to another kid, because we were still grieving that loss." Just two weeks after opening their home back up for placement, they received. call that there were three siblings who needed a foster home. Though they typically only took one to two children at a time, they made the exception to take the siblings in, due to their strong bond.
Later, those three siblings has another be born, and it was a no-brainer to the Blalocks that the new arrival would also be coming home with their siblings. Though the goal in foster care is reuniting with the biological family, adoption is what's happening for the addition four's future.
"With the twins, (it) was a lot easier when we got them, but now, that took a little bit more time to me, because we were just getting back into things. Overall, once I made that connection, it was just like...this is it. I love these kids," Christian shares. "We adore them," Staci agreed, "They're incredible."
The family hopes the. adoption process will be complete this year.
"You just have to be open to whatever comes, and it's an adventure. It's a really awesome adventure...that, at the end of the adventure, you'll see tiny little ones or teenagers become, hopefully, these great individuals of life that you pour into," Christian says.
We'll continue to follow the Blalock's story as their family becomes complete.
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