Couple’s call to foster parenting includes adoption
Tiffany Paschal knew for months she was being “called” to be a foster parent, but she was struggling in prayer about it due to her husband’s life-altering injury.
“It was absolutely a calling,” she affirmed. “I knew for six months before I even talked to James about it. And to be honest, I was telling the Lord there was no way we could do this because my husband — about 3 1/2 years before we started fostering — was critically injured in an accident and he’s paralyzed. His health was all right at that time when God called us to foster, and I thought, ‘We can barely make it as it is.’
“But it just kept bearing on me, and I finally thought I’m going to have to talk to James, and I thought he’d veto it and that’ll be that. But he (said), ‘No, I think we need to do it.’ And so there we went!”
The Paschals have been fostering for 4 1/2 years now. They have a biological daughter, a foster child who has been adopted, and three other foster children they are in the process of adopting. They also have another daughter under their guardianship who is 18 years old.
“We’re busy and blessed,” Tiffany said with a laugh.
To begin the fostering process, Tiffany contacted Sarah Mooney, the Social Services case manager at Gilmer’s Department of Family and Children Services. She called Mooney “amazing” and the one responsible for helping them expedite the paperwork, background checks, home study and impact classes they needed.
“We learned a lot about trauma, and we continue to learn a lot about trauma and how it impacts every facet of life,” Tiffany said. “My children are heroes, because they’ve been through so much nobody should have to go through.”
Mooney, who also serves in the Caregiver Recruitment and Retention Unit of DFACS, will be profiled in the Feb. 26 issue of the Times-Courier.
It was on the first day of the Paschals’ eligibility to be foster parents that they got the notification there was a little boy “waiting for us.”
DFACS then called and asked if they could take a young girl who needed a home for a few days because of a crisis situation with a biological relative, Tiffany said.
“They just needed a place for her for the weekend, they felt like, and so we said, yeah, bring her on. And our first little boy was autistic, and he wasn’t here yet when I said yes to Sabrina (whom they have adopted),” Tiffany recalled. “And I always say, God sent us (her) on the only day we would have gotten her. Because the day before, our home would not have been open yet, and the day after, we would have already met our little boy, and I would have thought I was not able to do it because of his needs.
“God just knew that we needed Sabrina, and Sabrina needed us.”
Their six children range in ages from day-care age to a freshman in college. The 18-year-old, Ginger Jennings, graduated high school early and plans on graduating college early as well. She will also be profiled in the next issue of the newspaper.
“We’re very proud of Ginger … she’s been through a tremendous amount too, and she’s amazing,” Tiffany exclaimed.
A 15-year-old girl they’re in the process of adopting is an eighth-grader. A 9-year-old, Jordan, is their biological daughter, and Sabrina is in kindergarten. The two smallest they are in the process of adopting are 4 and 3 years old, and both attend Mountain Academy for Kids.
James said being a foster dad has been “rewarding in many different ways” despite being wheelchair bound.
“Seeing the kids’ happiness means so much — I remember every child’s smile,” he said, calling each of the children’s names in their care. “I love how excited the kids get about little things because they have been through so much. Knowing that we have the opportunity to help children ‘break the cycle’ that their parents have been in is a huge blessing.”
How was Christmas in the Paschal household?
Tiffany answered by first thanking the Gilmer County community for “doing so much” for local foster children at Christmas.
“The outpouring of love here is amazing,” she said. “It’s funny, because we usually have to end up buying more stuff for our other children to match what the community has done for the kids that are still in (foster) care. A lot of it is churches that reach out and ‘sponsor’ children. Our children in foster care have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas.”
Part of the holiday celebration is attempting to include the biological relatives.
“If we have children whose parents are working a case plan (for possible reunification), we do work closely with the family too, and try to help the biological families to get back on their feet ... we did have Christmas with our baby’s biological grandmother, but other than that we didn’t have any Christmases with biological families,” Tiffany explained. “Our oldest (Ginger) did have a little celebration with her biological family.
“So this year, we just spent Christmas with our family. We have this huge family with everybody on my side here in Ellijay, and then James’ family always comes here for Christmas. We really had a great Christmas. We had several Christmases!”