Fostering Hope

All children deserve a loving family.

By Cheryl Schroeder

The Andersens officially welcomed Lily into their family on March 11, 2008.

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. There are currently over 4,000 children in Greater Sacramento who depend on foster families for care and emotional support. Yolo County has over 400 infants and children in foster care, children who depend on foster parents like Hiedi Andersen.

“I was one of those hurt kids you read about in the papers," says Hiedi, who was once a foster child herself. "At 15, after years of battering and emotional trauma, I was placed under the umbrella of protective custody and into a foster home… Honestly, I believe I am alive today because a teacher cared enough to make a child abuse report on my behalf. I am so thankful to her.”

Hiedi says the transition into foster care wasn’t easy, but it proved life-changing. “Yes, I was scared and confused,” she says, “yet a whole new world opened before me.” Hiedi made a lifelong friend, “Jennifer, another kid in placement,” at the first foster home where she was placed. Foster care also allowed Hiedi to begin rebuilding her trust in adults. “In foster care, adults embraced and guided me forward, from my social worker, foster parents, public defender, therapist, the Foster Care Education Director, and so many others. My life has been enriched and blessed because of foster care, and early on I knew I would grow up to be a foster parent.”

A cycle of healing

Today, 20 years after being placed into protective custody, Hiedi and her husband Ed are kinship, foster and adoptive parents. “Our two oldest daughters came to us as kinship placements; Amanda and Kaylie are now our legal children through adoption.” As Yolo County licensed foster parents, the couple has also cared for several babies and young children on a short-term basis. Hiedi recalls “one sweet newborn” she and Ed picked up at the hospital. That baby girl, Lily, became a permanent member of their family on March 11th, 2008, at the age of 16 months.

Hiedi urges anyone who might be considering foster parenting to take that first step. “I know that foster parents change lives,” she says, “and I also know that Ed and I are making a difference to each of the children [who] comes through our front door, whether they stay for a week or as permanent members of our family.”

Visit www.YoloFosterCare.com to find out more about foster care, adoption from foster care, or the licensing process, to see photos of children adopted from care, or to read the stories of local caregivers' journeys to fostering.