Community News for Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Northeast Phoenix, Carefree, Cave Creek and surrounding areas.
CITYSunTimes Web Exclusives July 2010 | Read the full SECTION
COMMUNITY
Forever Families: The Knox Foster Family
By Mridul Nanda, Aid to Adoption of Special Kids
When Renee and Josh Knox decided to provide foster care for a child, they had little idea of the actual impact their decision would have. They spent time talking it over with their two daughters, Kylie and Sydnie who are 12 and 10 years old. The result of their choice to foster sent ripples through not only their own lives, their daughters’, the children they cared for, their family and friends, but also in the lives of the biological families of foster children. The Knox’s are licensed to provide foster care for infants and toddlers in foster care.
“When we initially started fostering, we were 100 percent about the children, wanting them to have a place that was comfortable, warm and a family atmosphere,” says Renee. “But after time, it ended up being a whole community working together for the children and for the family. I think we have found that it is more than just about the kids that come in here. It’s about shared parenting and really being able to work together – if that’s the goal. We know with all of our placements that our number one goal is to reunify them to parents. And that’s why we’re fostering, so that we can help do that.”
Josh agrees that one of their main goals is to help bring families back together. Although this is not always the case with children in foster care, it really depends on each individual situation and what the determined case plan goal is for each child.
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“We’ve had seven different children come through our home in the last year and a half. And one of our goals when we got into this was really to try to help the parents as much as we could, without stepping over any lines,” says Josh. “We had the opportunity to journal back and forth with the parents. Nobody made us experts at it. You just have to have a heart for it and do your best.”
When they’re putting so much of themselves into caring for these children, Josh and Renee are bound to face many emotions when a child they have cared for leaves their home.
Renee says, “It is definitely challenging when the children in our home leave. We do give them everything that we have. And our girls give them everything that they have too. We just know from day one that they are here to be loved and that they don’t belong to us. We just give them everything that we can.”
Renee and Josh’s daughters have their own opinions of their experience in being big sisters and helping to care for the children that come into their home.
Twelve-year-old Kylie says, “I definitely feel close to the kids that are in our house. Fostering is a way to help other people and it’s a way to give people second chances. I like it a lot. It’s really exciting and it’s fun. I feel like I can just say that they’re my brother and sister. And I feel like they’re a part of the family.”
Their younger daughter, 10-year-old Sydnie, agrees that caring for a foster brother or sister is something unique that they are able to do.
Sydnie says, “I like to hold them and rock them. And I like to make them laugh and smile. I think it’s a good experience because you get to just take care of them and have fun with them and know that they’re going to be safe when they’re here. I think that they feel like they’re one special child.”
For more information, call 602.254.2275 or visit aask-az.org.
COMMUNITY Web Exclusives | CITYSunTimes July 2010