LOCAL
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
JENI GREENSHIELDS OF ENTERPRISE TALKS ABOUT BECOMING A FOSTER PARENT
‘Hardest thing you’ll ever do’
By Lisa Britton
lbritton@bakercityherald.com
ENTERPRISE — Jeni
Greenshields wants to do
what she can to help kids.
She became a foster parent
about six months ago.
“I have to be part of the so-
lution,” she said. “My heart
is I can help other foster
families, and be a resource
for foster kids.”
Greenshields lives in
Wallowa County, exactly
halfway between Enterprise
and Joseph.
Over the last 20 years,
she and her husband, Ran-
dy, have hosted exchange
students, and were legal
guardians to three children.
She has a master’s degree
in child development and
family relations, and works
part of taking care of each
other,” she said.
And she’s not in this jour-
— Jeni Greenshields, foster parent from Enterprise
ney alone — she relies on a
support system that includes
staff from DHS as well as
with the local alternative
healthy sibling relation-
other families who have fos-
education program.
ships.”
tered before or currently have
She also taught preschool
In all her years of work-
a foster child in their care.
for 18 years.
ing with children, this is
“There’s no shortage of
“I love the littles and I
her advice: “they don’t need hurting children,” she said.
love the bigs,” she said.
your pity.”
“Being a foster family is an
Providing foster care, she
“They need your under-
honor.”
said, is not easy.
standing that they are
And the experience has
“Being a quality foster
survivors,” she said. “What changed her.
parent is the hardest thing they need is someone to
“It’s grown me incredibly,”
you’ll ever do,” she said. “It’s unconditionally walk beside she said. “It’s made my life
loving someone else’s kid.”
them. My main message to better, more compassionate.
But she’s committed to
kids is ‘you are worth work-
“It’s not for everybody,” she
helping children.
ing hard for.’ ”
warns. “It will test you, grow
“It’s very diffi cult, but
Greenshields sees foster you. But for people who are
very rewarding,” she said.
care as a way of making a
willing, it can change your
“They’ll see a healthy fam- difference in a child’s life.
life and the trajectory of a
Jeni and Randy Greenshields.
ily, a healthy marriage,
“It’s so important. It’s
child’s life.”
“I have to be part of the solution. My heart is I can help
other foster families, and be a resource for foster kids.”
FOSTERS
“We’ve learned over the
years that there’s a loss to
Continued from Page 1A
them,” Ken said of the children
“You’ve got to be willing to
who fi nd themselves in a new
change and adapt,” Ken said.
situation.
Their entire family is
As for getting attached to
involved. When a call comes
foster children — yes, that is
from DHS about a foster
part of the commitment. And
child, they call a family meet-
Ken said it should be.
ing.
“Attachment is what this
“Our whole family is on
child needs,” he said. “It’s not
board,” Rebecca said.
about us. It’s about them.”
Mykail, the boy who came
Ken said sometimes when a
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald child leaves their care, the en-
to them at just 12 weeks old
as a foster child, shrugs when Rebecca and Ken Foster live in La Grande.
tire Foster family sheds tears.
asked about his family.
“That’s because you gave
“This has been my life for- these descriptions for the chil-
That being said, they honor your all and loved your best,”
ever,” he said. “It’s defi nitely
dren who live in their house. the situation of a foster child Ken said.
something I’ll do when I’m
“You’re part of the family
who comes into their care.
Although their house is
older.”
no matter what,” Ken said.
“You’ll never replace the
busy — kids in and out of the
Biological, adopted, foster
“There’s no difference — they biological parents,” Rebecca
screen door to play in the back
— the Fosters don’t really use are all our kids.”
said. “That has to be honored.” yard, or off to sports practice,
POTTERS
more of a focus in the last several
years.
Continued from Page 1A
“Trauma is a common thread,”
“It hurts. It always hurts,” Joy-
Joyclynn said. “We parent from a
clynn said.
place of extreme empathy.”
“Tears are shed,” Ben said.
They receive training through
The Potters, along with all certi-
their jobs, as well — Ben is a foster
fi ed foster families, complete 30
family certifi er for DHS, and Joy-
hours of training every two years.
clynn works for Early Head Start.
Information about trauma, and how
Foster care is a family decision for
trauma affects a child, has become the Potters, who consult their four
children before saying “yes” to tak-
ing in a foster child.
“We always check with our kids,”
Ben said.
Their daughters, Savannah (19)
and Naomi (17), already plan to be
involved in foster care when they
are older.
“They’ve all grown up with foster
care,” Joyclynn said.
The Potters have supportive
or practicing on a hoverboard
— this is life as the Fosters
know it.
When they don’t have any
foster children, Mykail notices
the void.
“The house feels so empty,”
he said.
Rebecca and Ken have
noticed how foster children
sometimes respond quicker
to the children in the house,
rather than the adults.
“Any adult they may not
trust,” Rebecca said. “But they
will trust a kid their own age.”
“They always seem to con-
nect to one person really well,”
Mykail said.
The Fosters also depend
on a support system of other
foster families and friends.
friends and family, too.
“I don’t think you can foster
without a good support network,”
Joyclynn said.
And they keep in mind — al-
ways — that the goal of foster care
is to reunite a child with his or her
family.
“You have to know and embrace
that the goal is reunifi cation,” Joy-
clynn said.
comforting the sick and grieving. On behalf of all the lives you’ve touched,
thank you.
Some can offer respite for a
couple hours, and some lend a
listening ear.
“Having people who support
what you do, believe in what
you do,” Rebecca said. “It’s
really hard some days, and it’s
really important to have com-
munity.”
As for their family — the
permanent ones and the
fosters who may only stay a
while — Rebecca and Ken say
hearts are made to expand.
“Our capacity to love is con-
stantly growing,” she said. “It’s
incredible. It grows if we allow
it to, and allow our hearts to
be open.”
“We have to trust God,” Ken
adds. “He gives us a lot of love
to pour out.”
And when someone asks them
about foster care, the Potters are
more than happy to have a conver-
sation about it.
“We’re always hoping more fami-
lies will foster. It’s really needed,”
Joyclynn said.
Next in the series: Learn more
about Every Child and CASA of
Eastern Oregon.
Thank You, Health Care Workers!
You’ve worked tirelessly this past year saving lives, keeping spirits up, and
Contributed Photo