Episode 251: Why "Getting Too Attached" Makes You a Great Foster Parent (w/ Caitlyn Baten)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I couldn’t become a foster parent because I’d get too attached.”
This is a sentiment we’ve heard many times from those considering foster care.
We know that foster care is full of the good and the hard; both beauty and brokenness. Overcoming our fears and holding space for both of these things is no easy task. And in my guest’s experience, the fear of getting too attached is the very thing that makes you a good candidate to become a foster parent.
Caitlyn Baten has been married to her best friend, Tim, for six years. She’s an adoptive and foster mom, is passionate about advocacy and ethical storytelling, and is a devoted follower of Christ. Caitlyn spent most of her professional career in the counter-trafficking space and now works for Buckner International where she comes alongside churches and engages them in the domestic and international work they do.
In this episode, Caitlyn shares her honest experience of becoming a foster parent, why becoming attached to a whole family is important, practical advice for preparing for visits with biological parents, and the importance of giving yourself space for heavy emotions when a child reunifies.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/caitlyn-baten-251/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community. |
| 0:04.0 | This is The Forgotten podcast. |
| 0:08.3 | We see it all over scripture of just this special anointing for his disciples that are |
| 0:14.8 | caring for the vulnerable. |
| 0:16.3 | And I don't think that's stopped once the last page of the Bible was written. |
| 0:20.2 | I think that carries on to today that there is an anointing in a special favor that will follow his people who care for those that are most vulnerable. |
| 0:27.6 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome back to the Forgotten Podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:36.6 | With every episode, our goal is to help you better |
| 0:39.0 | understand the foster care community. We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your |
| 0:43.8 | journey and help you support the agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children |
| 0:49.7 | in foster care right where you live. If you want to learn more about TFI, catch up on past episodes, |
| 0:56.6 | read engaging articles, or partner with us on mission with a gift of any amount, head over to |
| 1:03.0 | the forgotten initiative.org. We are in this together. Okay, it is time. Let's do this. |
| 1:21.9 | Caitlin Batten has been married to her best friend Tim for six years. She's an adoptive and foster mom, loves Jesus, |
| 1:30.3 | and is passionate about advocacy and ethical storytelling. Caitlin spent most of her professional |
| 1:36.5 | career in the counter-trafficking space and now works for Buckner International, where she gets the |
| 1:42.5 | privilege of coming alongside churches |
| 1:45.0 | and engaging them in the domestic and international work they do. Caitlin, welcome. I'm so |
| 1:51.0 | happy to be here. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Oh, man. I'm excited to talk through |
| 1:56.5 | foster care. We're going to just kind of talk foster care all the things today. And we know that |
| 2:03.2 | foster care has both good and hard beauty and brokenness, right? And so I really want us to just |
| 2:10.4 | kind of think through these aspects as we talk through the different aspects of foster care. |
... |
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