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“It’s exciting to see that light turn on in someone,” says Ruby, who has been a foster parent with Omni Visions for the past nine years. She’s speaking of the moment when a foster child realizes that someone cares for them and, with that support, sees there are no limitations to his future. She easily shares the joy of helping someone become prepared for life and creating a vision for their future – a vision that often seemed impossible in the past.
Ruby is a single-mother of two grown children and happily shares stories about her two grandchildren. She works from her home and uses her skills as a licensed hair stylist to connect with the children who become a part of her family – some for only a day or weekend, some for years. She also uses her three dogs to connect with the foster children: “All kids love animals.”
Ruby is very active in her church and became a foster parent through the encouragement of a friend at church – although she admits she was very reluctant at first. She finds church-related activities important to helping children and adolescents find the switch that “turns on the light.” Her church often continues to support her foster children after they leave her home.
“I find (being a foster parent) a blessing,” she says. “I thank God that He put me in a position to impart trust and make a change in these young kids. Everybody wants someone to show them they are important and they are valuable.”
Ruby tells children that having a foster parent is “an addition, not a subtraction. You’re now blessed with two Moms.”
Ruby credits Omni Visions with her successful quest to help children. She describes Omni Visions staff as concerned, dedicated and as people who show “kids are important to them.” They’re “right there for me,” she says. “You feel you are not alone in the home.”
The “wonderful” Resource Coordinators are “right there for you.” She says Omni Visions has never let her down or disappointed her. She is especially thankful for the training Omni Visions provides foster parents, which she says increases her knowledge and helps to make her more successful.
Because of the blessings she has found as a foster parent, Ruby has recruited many other people to become foster parents. She tells them that being a foster parent is a privilege because you impact a person’s life and that is an honor in itself. She also warns them that it’s “never dull. It’s exciting, sometimes down, sometimes up.”
And the most exciting of those times is when a child or adolescent finally sees a positive vision for his or her life because a dedicated and caring foster parent like Ruby has helped to “turn on that light.”
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