Scrolling through social media can be especially discouraging this time of year. Our feeds are filled with celebratory posts of teens dressed for prom or proudly donning caps and gowns for graduation. We may genuinely feel happy for the smiling faces in those photos, but deep inside, many foster and adoptive parents feel disheartened. For various reasons—whether the impacts of trauma, learning disabilities, prenatal substance exposure, or other challenges—our children’s hard-fought...

Curled up in my favorite chair, I pulled my knees to my chest and sobbed. My heart was crushed by the critical words of a close family member. One of my biological children—now married with children—felt compelled to create and review a list. An actual printed list. A list of my parenting failures. There is a sixteen-year age span between my oldest biological child and my youngest adopted child. But age isn’t the only difference. The five children who were engrafted into our family came with...

My husband came home from work and found me facedown on the floor of our walk-in closet. I wish I could say it was my prayer closet and I was storming the gates of heaven War Room –style. But I wasn’t. I was having a meltdown. Life was closing in. I felt overwhelmed by the demands of raising two teenage boys with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, managing a growing nonprofit, and caring for my dad with Alzheimer’s—on top of everyday responsibilities. For decades, I’ve carved out a morning quiet time...