Glenn and Charlcie Koster, bringing awareness to Foster care system.
Glenn Koster is walking across the United States and was recently in Big Sandy for a day. He started in Miami on February 1, 2018, and hopes to finish at the Pacific Ocean on August 26, 2019. He walks to bring a spotlight to Foster Care and adoption.
Glenn and his wife Charlcie started Charity Steps in 2015. Both Glenn and his wife will soon be 64 years old and have committed to the goal of bringing awareness to the problems of the foster care system. He has written a book Life is a Long Story Short, true stories about the Lessons from Living through Abuse, Abandonment, and Adoption. He plans on writing three more books. He walks six days a week for seven hours and will have walked 4,400 miles when he finishes in August.
According to Glenn, who got his information from the National Adoption Network, in Montana, there are 1,623 kids in foster care, outside the reservations. The reservations have their own system and it is not public information. There are 127 children waiting for adoption in Montana. He has talked to 46 groups, 44 newspapers,
Glenn was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused as a child by his birth father and later abandoned by his family. He was also sexually abused by his first foster family's cousin and he experienced the death of his first foster father at a young age.
"I was rebellious, a very independent-minded child. I didn't become a sexual abuser but I did abuse my wife and kids. One of the biggest things I had to do in 1989 I told my abusers I forgave them. In 1991, I told my birth father I forgave him. Forgiveness isn't for them it's for us. A weight just lifted up."
"Because I followed the 'sins of my birth father,' I cannot be a foster parent or an adoptive parent." He is a recovering alcoholic, sober since March 13, 1989, and a recovering spousal abuser, violence-free since May 27, 1989. Since he cannot be a foster or adoptive parent, walking across the United States to raise awareness is his way to give back.
"This is important," Glenn said. "I have often heard, 'I can't foster or adopt. What can I do?' My answer is that everyone can do something."
"Accept them! All foster and adoptive families want to be accepted as they are. Love them."
"Be a respite parent, in most families, when a couple needs some time away or to attend a special event, they can have family members watch the kids. Not so in a foster family. Only trained and approved respite parents can step in. Become one."
"Be an Emergency Parent. Nearly every night will find children somewhere sleeping in the offices of social workers across the country because there is no home to place a child in emergency situations. Step up. Be trained. Be available on short notice for a short time."
"Be a mentor. Whether it is through Big Brothers-Big Sisters, a local school, or
even a community mentoring program, be willing to teach and listen to foster kids as they develop life skills and react to what is happening in their upside-down world."
"Donate. The reality is that most kids nearly 80% enter the foster system with just the clothes on their back. Connect with one of the myriad groups that provide backpacks, duffle bags, or emergency care kits and work to provide them. If you cannot help build the kits together, donate so that those who can do so will be able to easily do so. Time. Talents. Money. They all help."
"Pray. There is power in prayer use It"
Everywhere Glen and Charlcie travel they run into someone who has been in the foster system and they all say the same thing? They feel abandoned and that they didn't belong anywhere. Glen wrote this poem titled I Belong. ("My father and mother may desert me, but the Lord will accept me. Psalm 27:10)
Alone in a world I do not understand
With no one to walk with me;
None to hold my hand,
I do not belong.
I am constantly moving from place to place;
Never staying long, nor learning to love.
I barely remember a face.
I simply cannot belong.
Struggling, excelling, hurting, and crying;
Living in fear that I will have to go it alone,
But I keep on trying
To prove I belong
Growing, Maturing, learning, and yearning;
Hope in for a day that I know will come
My own way in life I'm earning. But I still don't belong.
God wrapped His arms around my soul
From somewhere beyond my world;
His love enough to make me whole
Surely now I now...
I have always belonged!
This poem is dedicated to foster and adoptive children everywhere. If you want a signed copy for an adoptee or former foster child, just email Glenn Koster at Glenn.Koster@gmail.com
People interested in tracking his walking and training progress can do so at http://www.facebook.com/ksCharitySteps and http://www.facebook.com/glenn.koster/.
