“When our son came to us through foster care, he was three years old—and his first language was Spanish. Because there wasn’t a Spanish-speaking family available, he was placed in our home. We have many strengths as a family, but speaking Spanish isn’t one of them! Looking back, I can only imagine how overwhelming it must have been for him—on top of the trauma of being separated from his biological mother, he suddenly found himself in a home with different food, different music, a different rhythm of life, and a language he didn’t understand.
I had taken quite a bit of Spanish in college, and I remember praying, “Lord, bring back every word of Spanish I’ve ever learned!” I quickly became fluent in what I call “preschool Spanish.” Our communication was clunky, but what we couldn’t manage in words, we made up for with hugs, cuddles, and safe touch. God also provided a support friend who was fluent in Spanish, and I will never forget how his face lit up whenever this friend spoke with him—even something as simple as playing together on the church playground in his heart language. That simple gift of connection meant so much.
As our son’s case moved toward adoption, I began to grieve the reality that he would eventually lose his first language. I wanted so badly for him to remain fluent in Spanish, but we soon realized that if we didn’t encourage him to learn English, he would remain on the outside of our family’s daily life—since I was the only one who could communicate with him in Spanish. And with his many other needs—occupational therapy, physical therapy, academic intervention—our dream of raising him bilingual was quietly set aside.
Today, he is an incredible kid—happy, joyful, and deeply healed by God’s grace. But he’s also a brown-skinned child who no longer speaks Spanish. I see the sadness in his eyes when another Latino child approaches him on the playground, assuming they’ll be able to talk in Spanish, only for our son to shake his head. Because there weren’t enough Spanish-speaking foster families or supports available at the time, he lost something significant—his first language—on the road to finding his forever family.
More than ever, we need Spanish-speaking families who can step up as foster families and support friends through Foster the City. As a community, we can do better-we have to do better! Every child deserves to process the trauma of foster care with a loving family who can speak to them in their native language.”
- FTC Foster/Adoptive Mom
In most counties that Foster the City serves, the majority of children in the foster care system come from the Latino community, and many speak Spanish as their first language. If you speak Spanish – or know someone who does – you can make a life-changing difference for a child in foster care.
RSVP to an Interest Meeting today – fosterthecity.org/rsvp (available in English and Spanish)