Foster father

“ And I had always been a little old-fashioned, as we say, and the circumstance of succeeding to so big a practice so early, and being accepted favourably by so many of my father’s patients, had not impaired this characteristic. I was therefore both by nature and by profession more of a predestined guardian of another man’s child than most men even of forty-four are.
All the same, it was a tremendous responsibility, and it might result—I came back to this again and again—in a tremendous sacrifice. Because if I agreed to be Rose’s foster-father, I should have to be thorough and absolute. ”

“ Why dost thou weep, tender fawn, for me, who must leave our common dwelling-place?—As thou wast reared by me when thou hadst lost thy mother, who died soon after thy birth, so will my foster-father attend thee, when we are separated, with anxious care.—Return, poor thing, return—we must part. ”

“ They may pay them visits, but they never take them back permanently to their homes, and temporarily only by permission. The foster-father may, strangely enough, pass his adopted child on to some friend of his, as freely as he might one of his own. ”

“ One day Momotaro came to his foster-father and said solemnly:
“Father, by a strange chance we have become father and son. Your goodness to me has been higher than the mountain grasses which it was your daily work to cut, and deeper than the river where my mother washes the clothes. I do not know how to thank you enough.”
“Why,” answered the old man, “it is a matter of course that a father should bring up his son. When you are older it will be your turn to take care of us, so after all there will be no profit or loss between us—all will be equal. ”

“ If a man who has adopted a child and brought him up, has built a dwelling, (and) after he has children (of his own) set [pg 509] his face to cut off the foster-child, that child shall not go his way. His foster-father shall give him one-third of his property as his inheritance and (then) he shall go. He shall give him nothing of the field, plantation, and house. ”

“ First, my foster mother, then Vitalis, then another... Was it to be always so? Should I never find anyone that I could love and stay with always? Little by little I had grown attached to Vitalis. He seemed almost what I thought a father would be. Should I never have a father, have a family? Always alone in this great world! Nobody's boy! ”

“ But do my bidding, sweet fosterling, and it will be better for me and better for thee, and may, perchance, put off battle for awhile; which to me as now were not unhandy. If thou wilt but abide at Littledale for somewhile, there shall be going and coming betwixt us, and thou shalt drink thy Yule at the Tofts, and go back afterwards, and ever shalt thou have thy sweet fellows with thee; so be wise, since thou goest not perforce."
"Yea, yea," said Christopher, laughing; "thou puttest force on no man, is it not so, foster-father? ”

“ Foster-parents may never be persons in receipt of relief, or whose only means of support is the allowance made for the children. Children should not, except in special cases, be boarded with relations, nor in any home where the father is employed in night work; foster-parents employed in outdoor work are preferred to those occupied in sedentary labour. ”

“ Three years later, when Dagmar was five, an age at which she could walk and talk and think and was about to begin her quest of worldly knowledge, my father gave her in charge to a sterile couple who had long desired to possess a child. These foster-parents were only selected after a great deal of preliminary study—many excellent offers were rejected. The investigations, however, were conducted through the medium of a third person. An ineluctable rule of my father's system stipulated that foster-parents and actual parents should never meet. ”

“ The orphaned children were at once adopted by their father's eldest sister, Jane Martha, and her husband, William Edward Forster [q. v.] , who had no children of their own. Perfect confid- ence and affection marked for life the rela- tions between foster-parents and adopted children. ”

“ Were he younger, child, Wulfhere would have nought of it. I, and my father, and his father’s father have always thus lived, wandering from shire to shire; from burgh to burgh; from mead hall to mead hall, with harp and song and story; and none were so welcome as they. Many lords have bestowed gifts upon them, and fain would have kept them to sing of their bold deeds. But all of us, from father to son, liked better to tell of the daring of many than the prowess of one. The song of a harp of one string becometh in time irksome both to hearer and singer. In sooth, ’tis a merry life and a free. ”

“ I care not, Egwina, that he be king; but that he is wise, and tender, and so good. When he speaks, his words are unlying always, and men know that his word requires no oath to bind him. My heart bounds with pride when they call him ‘The Truth Teller.’ There have been many kings before him, but none so great as my father.”
“I wonder not at thy love,” said the gleemaiden. “Well doth he merit it. And Ethelfleda, as thou dost feel, so do all his people. Pride in his wisdom, and love for his tenderness, even to the beggar that hath left us. ”

“ Adele ran at once to the head of the table.
"I want to pour the coffee today, Bee," she cried, her white hands fluttering among the cups like flower petals.
"No;" spoke Bee emphatically, pushing her to one side. "That is my duty, Adele."
"Beatrice," exclaimed her father, "I am surprised. What difference does it make? If your cousin wishes to pour the coffee, let her do so. Remember, she is your guest." So he spoke, for no man ever understands all that serving at her own table means to a woman, or girl child.
"I do remember, father. She is the one who forgets. ”

“ Beauty is not everything. Sometimes the plainest countenance becomes charming when stirred by the emotions of a noble heart."
"Yes; I know," said Beatrice dully. "I know all that. I've heard it ever since I can remember. My father would say the same thing, I dare say, yet his eyes follow Adele constantly, and he scarcely looks at me. ”

“ Raymond laughed, and turned toward the door through which her daughter came, her face aglow with pride.
"Beatrice has been ready a long time," she chided, the gentleness of her tone softening the reproof. "You should not have kept her waiting, my daughter, when this is the day she is expecting a letter from her father."
"Don't scold her, auntie," pleaded Bee gazing at her cousin with admiring eyes. "Oh, Adele! how do you make yourself look so pretty?" ”

“ I confess that if to carry letters to Mary, Queen of Scots, be treason, then am I guilty of rebellion against the queen’s highness. Therefore, adjudge me guilty, and give me, I beseech you, a speedy death. But, if the word of one who stands in peril of life may be taken, I solemnly declare that my father is innocent of all design of harming the Queen of England. ”

“ You have heard the saying, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may become sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the wicked and the good alike, and sends rain on both those who do right and those who do wrong. ”

“ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect blessing comes from above, from the Father who is the source of all light, with whom there is no variation nor shadow made by turning. ”

“ Listen, and thou shalt hear one now.”
“Nay; rather let me hear more of thy tales,” and Egwina looked appealingly at the skald. “Well dost thou tell them, and I wonder not that thou art welcome where there is glee.”
“Thou shalt hear them then,” cried Sigurd, flattered by her words. “Later, daughter, canst thou use her for thy art. Now let her listen to mine, for I have need to refresh my memory. Wise is she in the lore of our craft; for a daughter of a skald, and a skald maiden is she. Then knowest thou, maiden, how Skadi, the daughter of Thyassi Jötun, came to Asgard to avenge her father?” ”

“ Day in and day out, fathers put their children first, creating loving and supportive environments. Whether by birth, adoption, or foster care, today we honor the incredible fathers in our lives for all they have done and continue to do for us. ”

“ A recent Act has raised the age of supervision of illegitimate babies from two to seven years, and this has necessitated the appointment of an additional inspectress. In South Australia baby farming has been extinguished, and in the other States legislation on similar lines has been won, and they are in process of gradually weeding out bad and doubtful foster mothers. And the foster fathers are often as fond of the babies as their wives—and as softhearted. ”

“ How is it possible for the average unmarried mother to find the sum asked by the foster-parents? Those who, as foster-parents, assume the charge of an illegitimate child, cannot reckon on the child’s remaining permanently in their care, and ultimately becoming a useful member of the family. ”

“ In actual fact, a proportion of the children committed to family care do permanently remain with their foster-parents—a proportion are indeed adopted. Since the children are as a rule the offspring of poor parents, and inasmuch as well-to-do people rarely trouble themselves to undertake the upbringing of other people’s children, the foster-parents will themselves usually be poor. ”

“ Because the tasks facing foster parents often include special challenges, such as care of a child who is physically or mentally handicapped or who has been emotionally or physically abused, the mothers and fathers whom society qualifies to accept this added responsibility must be held to a high standard. To accomplish this goal, many more happy and successful families must be willing to step forward and to offer to share heart and home with children desperately longing for both. ”

“ But each year, thousands of American children grow up without such families, lacking the stability and sense of permanency they need to thrive. More than 100,000 such children-orphaned, abandoned, abused, or unable to remain at home for other serious reasons-will need homes in the next few years. Although foster care provides a good supportive temporary environment for these children, adoption can provide them with the sustained love and care of permanent families and can give adults the chance to open their hearts and homes to a child they will cherish. ”

“ Their social position is also different from that of other servants, for as foster-mothers they have a say in the child's upbringing, and their own children can claim kinship as foster-brothers or foster-sisters. ”

“ Childless parents naturally adopt a child of kin to the wife, so that the adopted child occupies the position of one born in the house; but if, as sometimes happens, an orphan child from the husband's kin is adopted out of pity, it is brought up as of kin to the wife, and care is taken to conceal the fact of adoption. When the child grows up and by some chance finds out that he has been brought up on the wrong 'side of the house,' he will leave his foster parents, and go and live with his own sogoi. ”

“ It was the general custom among the chiefs and other leading men not to have the children reared at home, but to have them educated with some distinguished friend for the future duties of life. Those who received them were bound to treat them as their own children, with love and kindness; and there are many examples in the Sagas of the great love of the foster-parents for their foster-children. ”

“ The foster-parent for the time being stood in the place of the actual parent, and was obliged to feed, clothe, and educate the foster-child for a certain number of years, males till they had attained the age of seventeen, and females fourteen years, and the children were expected in return to compensate, succor, and in some cases support their foster-parents, as if they were their actual progenitors. ”

“ As many as 70,000 children in America's foster care system may need adoptive families in the next few years-young people of all ages and backgrounds who, for whatever reason, cannot return to their original homes. ”

“ Today we're taking important new steps to make adoption easier and to move children out of foster care faster. These efforts will help to give even more children what every child needs and deserves, loving parents, and a strong and stable home. ”

“ I saw the handsome little boy of five whom again everybody wished to adopt withheld because the intelligence test had found him defective. He must have no home save with people who would be willing to act as foster-parents to a subnormal child.
I saw frowsy, uncouth, foul-mouthed children of ignorant and disgusting parents tested and pronounced normal. I then watched these same workers systematically groom the small imps into pleasant-mannered youngsters purified of body and mind, and I saw them enthusiastically adopted by people who would on earlier contacts have drawn their garments aside. ”

“ I was your nurse, your foster-mother, nothing more. There might be no children of the marriage, he said, and if so, he should make you his heir, and did not wish you to know the stain upon your birth. There were no children, and as if to punish him for his sin to me, his wife died within the year, and he was left alone and made you his heir, so that when he died all he had was left to you, except a thousand pounds given to me, whom he designated as the foster-mother of his child.
“‘You, as you grew up, believed the woman who died at Grasmere was your mother, and that I was only your nurse ”

“ Because strong, loving families are the foundation of stable, caring communities and nations, adoption also enriches our entire country.
Tragically, however, despite the many benefits of adoption, thousands of children continue to wait. Approximately 36,000 children in the United States who are legally available for adoption are living in foster care or in institutions. Many of these children are characterized as special needs children: older children and children with disabilities, children with siblings who need to be adopted by the same family, or members of a minority group. ”