Sandy and David had two young sons when Sandy felt strongly that there was another baby in her future. She tried for five years to get pregnant, but to her surprise, couldn’t.
Then Sandy began volunteering in the Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Ben Taub Hospital. The babies there weren’t sick. They simply had nowhere else to go — some with moms recovering from surgery, but others under Child Protection Services (CPS) care awaiting placement. Sandy wished she could take them home for the weekend. A nurse suggested that if she were a licensed foster parent, she could.
The light dawned. She wasn’t supposed to love one more baby. She was supposed to love lots.
Sandy and David began fostering in 2008. She explains that for them, fostering rather than adoption was the right choice. “Dave and I are in our early 60s. In 20 years that baby would be taking out college loans and managing assisted living for us at the same time.”
The couple have been a safe haven for more than a dozen newborns. “I’ve always loved babies,” Sandy says with a laugh. “I’m very comfortable taking care of a newborn. Waking up in the middle of the night, well, I’m kind of an insomniac so I’m already awake.”
The longest stay was 18 months. “We have no expiration date on how long a baby should or could stay,” Sandy notes. They find Upbring’s Foster In Texas (FIT) program a perfect fit due to the wraparound care we provide all foster parents.
Sandy says fostering has brought immeasurable joy into their lives. “They come in your home and they’re yours until they’re not,” Sandy explains. “People say, ‘Oh, I could never say goodbye to a foster child.’ It is hard and you do cry a little bit, but you’re so happy knowing they’ve landed in a safe, wonderful, loving place.”
The couple is also glad that although the babies leave, it isn’t goodbye forever. They’ve maintained close ties with some of the adoptive families. “It has been such a gift to see how our family — bloodlines notwithstanding — has grown exponentially. So, for all the challenges, worries and sleepless nights, the benefits are far beyond my wildest dreams.
“I feel like there’s a need for good, solid, loving homes for these children that are from all sorts of hard places, and if that’s something I can do, then I should do it, and until I’m too old and they shoo me out the door, I will be doing it,” Sandy concludes with a laugh.
“I feel like there’s a need for good, solid, loving homes for these children.”