What they DON'T tell you in foster parent training:

1. You'll constantly be checking the inmate list to see whether the bio parents are in jail.
2. You'll be comforting the extended family while they wonder where the bio parents are.
3. You'll preface every plan with "If you're here in the summer..."
4. You'll never know exactly how many children you have. Do you count the ones that stayed six months or more? Or the ones that bounce back? How about the siblings of the ones you've kept?
5. You can't possibly draw your family tree. Unlike Hickville's (which has only one branch), yours has seven trunks.
6. You expect a knock on the door every birthday and Christmas from bio parents who haven't been in contact in over a year.
7. Every time you see "Drug Bust" in the headlines, you hide the newspaper until you can check that it's not your child's parents.
8. You'll need to explain drugs, half-siblings, arrests, depression, overdoses, and suicide attempts to children who can't yet tie their shoes.