Kayla and Kevin Lang, with adopted foster daughter Samara
A note from Kayla Lang, a commercial loan servicing analyst in our Loan Operations department and a foster parent:
May is National Foster Care Month. This month, all over the country, different foster care agencies will celebrate and honor foster parents. But there is a larger goal: to motivate more Americans to step up and help the more than 400,000 children in foster care.
On any given day in Milwaukee, 2,200 children are living in foster care while their families take time to heal. A foster parent provides a temporary family and home for a child, until he or she can be safely reunited with his or her biological family or placed in a permanent living situation.
There is always a need for more foster parents, especially since many foster parents adopt the children placed in their home, if the children are unable to return to their birth parents.
If you have ever considered fostering, May is the perfect month to check it out. If you would like to be a hero to a child, please go to www.cssw.org or call 414-KID-HERO for more information.
Two years ago, Kayla and her husband, Kevin, took in a now-4-year-old foster daughter, named Samara. On March 6, they officially adopted her. “We have a biological daughter who is five days younger, and they became virtual twins,” Kayla says. The couple had looked into adoption after their first daughter was born, she says. “But when we learned how many kids were right here in Milwaukee who needed ‘forever homes,’ we decided that was a better fit.”
She and Kevin also took in a foster son in September 2011 and hope to adopt him, as well as two foster daughters, both 3 months old, who were placed in their home in April.
“It’s the hardest yet most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” Kayla says, not least because of the numerous visits from social workers and how regulated the foster system is. “But it just makes our home a full and happy place.” Employees with questions about her fostering experience can email Kayla at klang@northshorebank.com.
I am so proud to know and work with someone who has such a big heart and can provide a loving home to kids when they need it most. Hopefully we will see a rise in the number of caring people becoming foster parents like Kayla and Kevin! Congrats and best wishes to you all!
I am considering becoming a foster parent sometime in the future. My fiance and I have even discussed this, and he is open to adopting or being a foster parent. I hope that some day we will be able to make this happen!
We adopted our daughter that we were foster parents to. I wish I had more room and more time to do it again. Very rewarding to them and moreso to you! Enjoy…
Kayla, this is such a refreshing story to read. I truly admire you and your husband for opening your home to these children who really just need to be loved and taken care of, and knowing you, this did not surprise me. How adorable Samara is and happiness just beams off of her.
Thank you for being Foster Parents!