How to make your foster child’s birthday special

Rachael Walker is an ex-marketing manager turned full time foster mom and blogger. When she’s not looking after her 2 children, she enjoys baking, crafts, and long weekends away. Rachel Writes is the tale of her journey as a foster mother. Here she shares the importance of making birthday’s for foster children special.

How to Make Your Foster Child’s Birthday Special

When my foster daughter’s 6^th birthday approached last year, my husband and I were desperate to make her day special. She hadn’t been living with us for very long, and we wanted to show her that she was part of our family.

Lucy had a wonderful day, and we look back now and wonder what we were so worried about. With her 7^th birthday just around the corner, we feel much more prepared this year and everyone in our family is looking forward to celebrating.

I’m sure we’re not the only foster parents to have wondered the best ways to make a child’s birthday one to remember for all the right reasons. Here, I am going to share my experiences and offer some tips on how you too can make your foster child’s birthday special:

Make it a family affair

Fostering has always been something we’ve done as a family. Our son Jack has had huge role to play in our fostering journey and helping our foster daughter settle in. Because of the family impact of fostering, you should make birthdays a family affair too.

For example; last year we spent the day together at a location of our daughters’ choice. She picked where we went, what we ate, and what we did. It was wonderful to do something altogether, and this was a great way to make her birthday special.

Your foster child may want to see their birth parents for a portion of the day, so speak to your agency about whether this is something that is possible.

Show them how important they are

Some children will have spent every birthday they can remember in foster care, and not see them as something to look forward to.

For us, it was always important that we made our daughter’s birthday a big occasion. Decorating the house with balloons, buying her a special present and making a cake are all luxuries your foster child may not have experienced before.

I decorated a chair to make it look like a throne for Lucy to eat her breakfast in, so she would feel like a princess. This was an exciting surprise she didn’t expect, but she loved it.

Treat them the same as your other children

I spent the same on presents for Lucy and Jack, and let her have a party with her school friends like he does. For Lucy to settle in, she needed to feel like part of our family and by treating both children the same, she does.

If you don’t already have children, give your child the kind of birthday you had when you were growing up. We all remember how much we loved birthdays as children; give your foster child the kind of birthday that feels like this.

Making your foster child’s birthday special doesn’t have to be a challenge. In fact, it can be really rewarding for you and your family. What ways have you made your children’s birthdays special in the past?

Rachael Walker is an ex-marketing manager turned full time foster mom and blogger. When she’s not looking after her 2 children, she enjoys baking, crafts, and long weekends away. Rachael wants to share the highs and lows of life as a foster carer with parents in a similar situation. Visit her blog to read more about her journey as a foster mother, and share recipes, ideas for family days out, parenting tips and more.