I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Sharlene. I am a 45 year old foster/adoptive parent. We live in a small town in the middle of the Michigan mitten. After being married for several years and dealing with fertility issues. I found out I could not have biological children. We were devastated.

My dream of having a family was slightly dimmed for a few months. Then being the positive person I am and with wonderful support from my loving husband, Gary, we decided to become Foster Parents and build our family one child at a time.

Gary and I worked with the youth group in our home church for many years. We knew a little more about older children than we did babies. As every parent's dream is to have a baby, we had that vision in our life too but decided to foster children from 0 to 18 years of age. We would help keep families together.

Thus, we began our journey into the foster and adoption of an older child. I took classes to learn about child development all of my life. I volunteered at local schools as classroom aide. I taught elderly and child classes in arts and crafts. I read book after book on raising children, but as you know nothing can compare you for the real experiences of parenthood. No matter what age the child is, there are always things you do not know and as a good parent you are forced to learn quickly.

Most of my skills are from life experiences. Our first 3 adopted children were a sibling unit. One boy and two girls ages 5, 10, and 11. We were able to send off our first little daughter to her first day of kindergarten and delight in the horror of pre-teen years all at the very same time. Welcome to our world.