Susie and Jim Clark first became foster parents in 1998 when their daughter was a sophomore in high school and their son was ready to graduate.
Since that time they have adopted three of the 15 children they have fostered.
But Susie eschews such terms as “foster child” and “adopted child.”
“Let’s just say, right now, we have seven children in our lives,” she said.
The Clarks officially adopted Makayla, 3, on Aug. 10. She had been with them since she was 5 weeks old. They also have 11- and 10-year-old adopted children.
So with the Clarks’ three children and four other foster children in the home, it’s just simpler and non-discriminatory for Susie to say, “We have seven children in our lives.”
In 1998, their lives with foster children also began with a little girl.
“There was this girl at church who worked with Caroline Page at the Department of Human Resources and she asked if we would be interested in foster care,” said Susie.
Susie said she gets the usual question from people, “How can you possibly give up a child?” But when it’s time for a child to go back to his or her birth family, Susie said she does not — at least immediately — break the ties.
“We have some kind of relationship with the birth parents,” she said. “You are also fostering a family and you must rehabilitate the whole family so you can send them home.”
She says fostering is a “bittersweet” experience.
“It’s a happy time for us but it’s also a sad time for others when children come to us. Many times, parents want their children but can’t take care of them. We mean no disrespect to the birth families. Sometimes they just need help. It is not always an abusive situation.”
This is a philosophy that Susie has developed over the years as she helps with foster parenting classes at DHR.
“I teach them from the foster parent’s side and I really enjoy doing this,” she said.
Susie said being a foster parent and the parent of three young children “takes a lot of help from our birth children.” Her first two grown children are in the area and always ready to lend a hand, she said.
“Sometimes I say to my daughter-in-law, ‘Could you just fix us some dumplings?’”
She said it’s a tradeoff because she also babysits for her 5-year-old granddaughter.
Jim Clark is also retired from Dunlop and pitches in with the large family and her daughter helps with the family shopping.
“It takes the whole family to go on a trip,” she said. “We just got back from Disney World and it took us all. I just couldn’t do it without them.”
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The children in their lives
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