Anita: It Was An Entire Family Raising This Child

Jayne Amelia Larson talks with foster parent and adoptive mother, Anita, who when she was  single and only 22-years-old welcomed an 11-year-old girl, Ashleigh, into her home thinking it was for short respite care, maybe a week or a month... and ended up caring for her for years and then adopting her. Anita says: "I would not have been able to do this if I didn't have the support system that I had with my family and friends, I've always been determined, I've always been very motivated, but again, I walked into this, not really realizing the full extent of what I was getting into and, but for my family and friends who were there to help and to, you know...It was an entire family raising this child. I wouldn't have been able to do it alone and also with the, the great social workers and the therapists who were also very much a part of it. It was like we had this huge network of people who were all in it together."

Her daughter Ashleigh Akari Nichols is also a Bonus Babies podcast guest and tells her story in episode 11.

To learn more about becoming a foster parent go to
National Foster Parent Association
Adoptuskids.org
Pennylane
The Village Family Services
Kidsave.org

Go to NationalCASAGAL.org
to find out more about becoming a CASA anywhere in the US
and CASALA.org in Los Angeles.

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