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PITTSBURG —
Kelli and Rob Adolph always have a house full of children. Two are their biological children, one they adopted, and the rest are youngsters who just need a safe and secure environment for a day, a month, or even a year.
“We’ve been foster parents for about 6 1/2 years,” Mrs. Adolph said. “It’s just something we always knew we wanted to do.”
“I have a couple of aunts and uncles who have adopted, and cousins who are foster parents,” added her husband. “It’s just kind of a calling, something we feel God wants us to do.”
They currently have three foster children, making a total of six youngsters in their Crawford County home.
“We’ve taken a few older kids short term, but we usually have children 8 or younger,” Mrs. Adolph said.
Her husband said that their oldest son recently turned 9.
“We wanted to keep him the oldest,” Adolph said. “As they grow and get older, we might change the flux a little bit, but now we’ll stay with younger children.”
He said that the family may only get an hour’s warning that a new child is coming.
“That hour may come at 2 in the morning,” Adolph added.
“We’ve had about 30 foster children, and they’ve stayed with us anywhere from one day to two years,” Mrs. Adolph said. “The ones we have now we’ve had quite a while. It’s gotten to be kind of a running joke at church, that when we show up, how many kids will we have.”
Her husband works, but she stays home all day with the children, takes them to school and doctor’s appointments and keeps house.
“You have to have a routine and stick to it as best you can, but you also have to be flexible, too,” Mrs. Adolph said.
It helps that the six children all get along pretty well.
“They all have their jobs and chores,” Mrs. Adolph said.
One of the main chores, her husband said, is to put away their toys before they go to bed.
To prepare them for foster parenting, the Adolphs took PS-MAPP classes through TFI Family Services, the reintegration, foster care and adoption contractor for SRS Region One and Region Three in Kansas. This includes Cherokee, Bourbon and Crawford Counties. Each of them also has to take eight hours of continuing education each year.
“We didn’t know what to expect going into it, but kids just want two parents to love them,” Adolph said.
Kelli and Rob Adolph always have a house full of children. Two are their biological children, one they adopted, and the rest are youngsters who just need a safe and secure environment for a day, a month, or even a year.
“We’ve been foster parents for about 6 1/2 years,” Mrs. Adolph said. “It’s just something we always knew we wanted to do.”
“I have a couple of aunts and uncles who have adopted, and cousins who are foster parents,” added her husband. “It’s just kind of a calling, something we feel God wants us to do.”
They currently have three foster children, making a total of six youngsters in their Crawford County home.
“We’ve taken a few older kids short term, but we usually have children 8 or younger,” Mrs. Adolph said.
Her husband said that their oldest son recently turned 9.
“We wanted to keep him the oldest,” Adolph said. “As they grow and get older, we might change the flux a little bit, but now we’ll stay with younger children.”
He said that the family may only get an hour’s warning that a new child is coming.
“That hour may come at 2 in the morning,” Adolph added.
“We’ve had about 30 foster children, and they’ve stayed with us anywhere from one day to two years,” Mrs. Adolph said. “The ones we have now we’ve had quite a while. It’s gotten to be kind of a running joke at church, that when we show up, how many kids will we have.”
Her husband works, but she stays home all day with the children, takes them to school and doctor’s appointments and keeps house.
“You have to have a routine and stick to it as best you can, but you also have to be flexible, too,” Mrs. Adolph said.
It helps that the six children all get along pretty well.
“They all have their jobs and chores,” Mrs. Adolph said.
One of the main chores, her husband said, is to put away their toys before they go to bed.
To prepare them for foster parenting, the Adolphs took PS-MAPP classes through TFI Family Services, the reintegration, foster care and adoption contractor for SRS Region One and Region Three in Kansas. This includes Cherokee, Bourbon and Crawford Counties. Each of them also has to take eight hours of continuing education each year.
“We didn’t know what to expect going into it, but kids just want two parents to love them,” Adolph said.
“Foster kids just want to be included in what you’re doing and treated like any other kid would be,” his wife added.
She admitted that being a foster parent can be high risk, but also brought high rewards.
“You’re putting your heart out to help the kids, and saying goodbye can be kind of tough,” Mrs. Adolph said. “We’ve stayed in contact with some of the kids and their parents. We’ve been able to be a resource for some parents after the kids have gone home.”
Her husband believes that patience is a key to being a good foster parent.
“You also need to be able to work with so many kinds of people, with so many workers who are helping to meet the children’s needs,” Mrs. Adolph said.
They have a worker, each foster child has a worker and the children’s parents have a worker as well.
“We know that we can call on any of them at any time,” Mrs. Adolph said.
“We also have a couple of brave girls at church who can come to watch them,” her husband added.
He said that he traces his family’s evolution through their vehicles.
“We started with a two-door Cavalier, then a four-door car, then we got a mini-van, a Suburban, and now we’re in a 12-passenger van,” Adolph said. “If I’ve been away from the house for an extended period of time, I don’t know how many will be there when I get home. Even our own kids have asked why some people just have two kids. They don’t know that everybody doesn’t have a house full of kids.”
TFI will begin a new session of free PS-MAPP classes from 6 to 9 p.m. March 6 at its offices, located at 3101 N. Michigan. Partnering for Safety and Permanence-Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting, or PS-MAPP, is the first step to take toward becoming a foster parent. Classes will run for 10 weeks.
Anyone wishing to explore the possibility of becoming a foster and/or adoptive parent may call 1-877-931-1069 or visit www.tfifamilyservices.org.
