Poplin Family
Tell us about your family.
We have been married for almost 13 years and have two children, Canyon (3) and Avonlea (1). We live in Lynchburg, Virginia and enjoy being part of the community at Liberty University. Our family loves to play board games, go for walks, bake, do arts and crafts, and of course play baseball.
What motivated you to be foster parents?
I (Bethany) studied social work in college and knew I wanted to be a foster parent before I met Hunter. On our first date, I asked Hunter how he felt about fostering and adopting and he said that he would love to both foster and adopt one day. When we got married, I was working for a foster care agency and my director called and asked if we would consider fostering two older girls (8 and 14 years old) who were sisters because they were about to be split apart since they had disrupted every placement they had been in. We were told we only had 5 minutes to make the decision because the state was going to have to move them as we were speaking on the phone. I asked Hunter, who had previously told me he only wanted to foster babies and boys, but I was sure he was going to say no since they were older girls. He looked at me and said, "if these are the children God has for us then of course my answer is yes!" I definitely fell more in love with him that day. We fostered those two girls until they were adopted and then we went on to be houseparents at a group home where we got to live with up to seven children at a time. We loved that season of our lives and really miss the relationships we built with all of those children.
Share a highlight of your fostering experience.
There are so many we could share but one that sticks out to us is when we took them to Disney World. They had never been before and when they saw Cinderella's castle for the first time, both of them just stared in amazement. We have pictures of that moment and we often go back and look at them because it reminds us that even when innocence is taken away from children, that glimmer of hope that good things can still happen for them is still there.
Tells us something about your fostering experience that you didn’t expect or anticipate happening?
Falling in love so quickly...we knew that we wanted to be a safe place for any children that were placed in our care but we had no idea how deeply and quickly we would fall in love with them. They grab your heart and you don't realize how capable you are of loving someone that much. The next time we found ourselves that in love with someone was when we had Canyon and Avonlea.
What would you say to other families who are considering foster care?
This was by far the most difficult thing we have ever done but it is also the most rewarding. Your heart will be broken so many times, however, God will be with you and He can heal both you and the children you are blessed to have in your home. Do not lose heart because you have Him guiding you. Find a supportive community that understands the challenges of fostering. Make sure you take respite breaks and don't "tough it out" because you need to be at your best when caring for these kids.