Adding Patrick as son makes Cole family complete

 By MONICA CANE

209 reporter

Beth Cole first felt the tug on her heart to become a foster parent while she was in college.

She worked at an agency with foster children and thought that it would be an amazing thing to do once she was married and ready to have a family.
Beth eventually did get married to the love of her life, Steven, and together they had a beautiful little girl named Maggie and then together decided it was time to pursue the desire to become foster parents

In October of 2007 the hopeful couple went to an agency in San Joaquin County and began the process.  Part of that process included taking classes from an experienced instructor that had fostered children herself for many years, and who shared valuable insight with Beth and Steven as they embarked on this very special journey.

 “I felt like it was God calling our family to help out children. Knowing that our family would be a small part in providing a good home for children was a huge reward” she says.

 As with most things, where there are rewards there are also challenges.  For Beth and Steven, not being fully in charge of the children they came to love and care for along with the fact that they could be taken from their home at any time due to the circumstance of being foster children was tremendously trying.

 Beth and Steven fostered a total of three children from 2 months to 3 years of age. The first two children were with them temporarily and though the couple was aware that the children placed in their home could be removed at any time, it didn’t stop them from getting emotionally attached to the children.

“I really grieved when our first two foster children left our home. It was a loss, but I had to put my feelings aside and hope that what I did was important in their life” says Beth.

 Having to say goodbye to their first two foster children took an emotional toll, yet the couple still believed it was something God had called them to do and that He would give them the strength they needed, and so they continued on.

Eventually another foster child, 2 month old Patrick, was placed in the couple’s home and once again there was an instant emotional connection. But this time it didn’t lead to Patrick being removed from their home suddenly. Beth and Steve fell head over heels in love with Patrick and knew in their hearts that they wanted him to stay forever and so without hesitation, they adopted him as their son.

 From the day he was placed in their home, Patrick has been the perfect fit to the Cole family, even down to the fact that he looks a lot like them.  Since then, Beth and Steven use positive ways to explain his story to him, and according to Beth, this once foster child, feels he is very special because of the way he came to be part of his forever family.  And without question mom, dad and big sister Maggie all agree.