71 Foster Care Quotes About This Thankless Labor of Love

Foster care is a difficult and emotional labor of love, as evidenced by these foster care quotes.

There are many things that make foster care heartbreaking, the first of which is that it is even necessary.

Social workers have ‘cases,’ but each case is really the story of an individual human child that has been wronged in some unimaginable way by the people who should have loved them the most.

Everyone involved in the case becomes someone who can make a difference in the child’s future.

One of the most profound ways that people can make a difference is by fostering these children within their families.

It is not an effortless task, and the people who open up their hearts and homes are genuine heroes.

Sadly, not all foster homes are loving and warm, and some people foster for all the wrong reasons.

This only adds more trauma to the children and also makes the lives of good foster parents even more difficult.

These foster care quotes about love and adoption will have you in tears.

Don’t forget to also check out these adoption quotes celebrating the decision and process.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Our inspirational quotes category page has all of our motivational quotes for all the different areas of life.

Short foster care quotes

1. “Parenthood requires love, not DNA.” — Unknown

2. “You may be in our home for a season but you’ll be in our hearts forever.” — Unknown

3. “Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone else to love them.” — Leigh Anne Tuohy

4. “Little souls find their way to you, whether they’re from your womb or someone else’s.” — Sheryl Crow

5. “Fostering takes time, but love arrives instantly.” — Unknown

6. “Family is not defined by our genes; it is built and maintained through love.” — Unknown

7. “Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.” — Josh Shipp

8. “Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero.” — Fred Rogers

9. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain

You will also enjoy our article on parents quotes.

Foster care quotes about love

10. “You might be temporary in their lives, they might be temporary in yours. But there is nothing temporary about the love or the lesson.” — Tonia Christle

11. “We have the opportunity to pour into them what they were created to be; and pullout the treasure that they cannot yet see.” ― Momma Moon

12. “Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.” — Fred Rogers

13. “Unconditional love is not based on the performance of the receiver, but on the character of the giver.” — Jack Frost

14. “An aware parent loves all children he or she interacts with—for you are a caretaker for those moments in time.” — Doc Childre

15. “I am not afraid to grieve. I am afraid of what will happen to these children if no one took the risk to love them.” — Unknown

16. “We need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” — Fred Rogers

Foster care quotes about adoption

17. “I have four children. Two are adopted. I forget which two.” — Bob Constantine.

18. “Children born to another woman call me ‘mom’. The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me.” — Jody Landers

19. “I always questioned whether I was ready to adopt. Then I realized, no child was ready to be an orphan.” — Unknown

20. “Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home.” — Anthony Liccione

21. “Despite the best of efforts, many foster children are neither reunited with their families nor adopted.” — Charles Bass

22. “As an adoptive parent myself of foster children, I have seen firsthand the glaring problems of the system currently facing this Nation.” — Dennis Cardoza

23. “What makes a family is neither the absence of tragedy nor the ability to hide from misfortune, but the courage to overcome it and, from that broken past, write a new beginning.”― Steve Pemberton

24. “Being adopted felt like reading a book that had the first chapter ripped out. You might be enjoying the plot and the characters, but you’d probably also like to read that first line, too.” ― Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care

25. “When we began this journey, I was quite eager to adopt and “complete” our family. However, nothing is ever certain, or done in a timely manner in foster care. Find joy in the moments you have together. Enjoy the journey. We may never “complete” our family, but we will have helped some sweet souls along the way.” — Crystal Garman

26. “In the midst of your weakness and the wake of your struggle, ‘success’ as a foster or adoptive parent isn’t measured by your capacity to keep everything in order but by your ability to trust that even in the chaos Jesus is beautiful—and that even in the mess, so is what you’re doing for these kids.” — Jason Johnson

Foster quotes about being a foster parent or foster child

27. “Fostering or adopting a child is a long and painful process… but so is childbirth.” — Unknown

28. “As foster parents, we are asked to not only care for the basic needs of a child but also sit alongside them as they digest the hurt and damage they have undeservingly experienced.” — Carrie Dahlin

29. “Many foster children have had difficulty making the transition to independent living. Several are homeless, become single parents, commit crimes, or live in poverty. They are also frequent targets of crime.” — Charles Bass

30. “Fostering is not about us. It never was and never will be. Foster care is about serving, loving on others, and being the one constant in a child’s life when they are going through a really hard time.” — Jeremy Garman

31. “Every child deserves a champion — an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best they can possibly be.” — Rita F. Pierson

Foster Care Quotes to Encourage Parents and Caregivers

32. “A child born to another woman calls me mom. The depth of the tragedy and the magnitude of the privilege is not lost on me.” — Jody Landers

33. “Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.” — H. Jackson Brown Jr

34. “Sometimes our work as caregivers is not for the faint of heart. But, you will never know what you are made of until you step into the fire. Step bravely!” — Deborah A. Beasley

35. “If you can help a child, you don’t have to spend years repairing an adult.” — Joyce Meyer

36. “Life is beautiful. It’s about giving. It’s about family.” — Walt Disney

37. “Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life.” — J.K. Rowling

38. “To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.” — Barbara Bush

39. “With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models.” — Michelle Obama

40. “Encourage and support your kids because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” — Lady Bird Johnson

41. “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters.” — Amy Leigh Mercree

Foster Care Quotes To Encourage Care Giving 

42. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa

43. “Family is the most important thing in the world.” – Princess Diana

44. “Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.”  – George Bernard Shaw

45. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”  — Dr. Seuss

46. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” — Nelson Mandela

47. “Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”  — Lady Bird Johnson

48. “Children need models rather than critics.” — Joseph Joubert

49. “Every child you encounter is a divine appointment.” — Wess Stafford

50. “Children are like wet cement whatever falls on them makes an impression.” — Haim Ginott,

51. “Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.”  — Henry Ward Beecher

Foster Care Quotes To Spread Love

52. “Everyone picked on me in school because I was in foster care.” ― Dave Pelzer

53. “Too many children in foster care are falling through cracks. Be a hero, take the time learn about adoption today.” ― Bruce Willis

54. “Helping a child today will help prevent a broken adult tomorrow.” ― Kathleen Paydo

55. “I am a struggling writer. A middle-aged man with two little kids and I’m just trying to earn a living. So buy this book – or my kids will have to go to foster care.” ― Christopher Darden

56. “Many children in the foster care system are often in the midst of a family challenge.” ― Michele Bachmann

57. “I believe that any woman who takes on the role of a mother, whether it be naturally or through foster care or adoption, should be held in the highest regard.” ― Raheem DeVaughn.

58. “Hundreds of thousands of kids now have a chance to be adopted because I worked to change our adoption and foster care system.” ― Hillary Clinton

59. “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” ― James Baldwin

60. “We must not allow this generation to produce record numbers for the juvenile justice, runaway and homeless youth, or foster care systems.” ― Ruben Hinojosa

61. “Through all the trials of the foster and adoptive journey, I want you to know that the calling you’ve received to care for vulnerable children is valid. And it is beautiful.” ― Mike Berry

Foster Care Quotes To Help Make a Family

62. “Thus bound together, they sheltered the child from the cold, dark night, enveloping him in warmth.” ― Seth Adam Smith

63. “I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.” ― Kenny Guinn

64. “The love of a foster mother for her charge appears absolutely irrational.” ― Winston Churchill

65. “You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” ― Desmond Tutu

66. “This is for the kids who know that the worst kind of fear isn’t the thing that makes you scream, but the one that steals your voice and keeps you silent.” ― Abby Norman

67. “We should not be asking who this child belongs to, but who belongs to this child.” ― James L

68. “I came to this house for safety. They came because the foster care system ran out of homes. We stayed because we were stray pieces of other puzzles, tired of never fitting.” ― Katie McGarry

69. “Adoption is a lifelong journey. It means different things to me at different times. Sometimes it is just a part of who I am. Other times it is something I am actively going through.” ― Kelly DiBenedetto

70. “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” ― Richard Bach

71. “There’s nothing more important in this world than caring for a child.” ― Seth Adam Smith

What it takes to be involved in foster care

My sister is a foster mom, and I am constantly in awe of her every day.

I do not know how she finds the strength to bear some of the trauma these kids have seen.

Parenting is challenging, but parenting those children who aren’t yours and have seen some of the worst this world can offer is especially hard for everyone.

Then there is the trauma that foster parents go through themselves, like saying goodbye to children they have had for years when they are reunited with their parents or other family members.

Even when it is truly in the child’s best interest, it is human nature to mourn the child that has become part of your family.

Yet, people like my sister put aside their heartbreak and the flaws of a broken system.

They give a little piece of themselves to every child that enters and leaves their home.

Sometimes, like with the three nephews I have, they get to stay and are adopted.

That is not an uncomplicated journey, either.

Do you have any other foster care quotes and sayings you would like to share?

Use the comment section below to let us know.