Emma’s Foster Parenting Journey is a Powerful Story of a Love that Refuses to Give Up

Emma has opened up her heart to three precious children through her foster parenting journey. A journey that has been both complex and beautiful, but more importantly, healed, transformed and... The post Emma’s Foster Parenting Journey is a Powerful Story of a Love that Refuses to Give Up appeared first on Good Things Guy.

May 22, 2026 - 07:43

Emma’s Foster Parenting Journey is a Powerful Story of a Love that Refuses to Give Up

Emma has opened up her heart to three precious children through her foster parenting journey. A journey that has been both complex and beautiful, but more importantly, healed, transformed and given three souls a family where they truly belong.

Cape Town, South Africa (22 May 2026) – With National Child Protection Week (29 May – 5 June) approaching and the global community marking World Foster Day on 31 May, we recently shared a call by Kin Culture to support the selfless families who open their homes to vulnerable children, offering them the warmth and love of a family life they might otherwise never know.

That call resonated deeply with one of our readers and foster parent, Emma Attwell, whose journey of opening her heart and home to children in need began at just 21 years old.

She remembers the first little one she welcomed into her care: Busi.

“I started my foster care journey 24 years ago with a little girl who was not going to survive. She weighed just 2.1kg at the time, 24 years ago. She was two-and-a-half years old. She hadn’t been abused or neglected. Her mother loved her dearly.”

Busi’s mother found herself in the difficult position of needing to support her entire family as a sweet vendor, while not having the resources to spend two full years beside her daughter in the hospital.

“Her mom asked me to take care of her. I was 21. On 9 August 2002, she was placed with me in foster care, with the doctors saying, ‘It’s not quantity of life that matters, it’s quality.’”

Today, Busi is 26 years old and studying ECD at a TVET college. A resilient young woman who has persevered through health challenges and more than most.

“She is not just my daughter; she is my best friend,” Emma tells us.

Emma’s foster parenting journey didn’t end with Busi.

Her second child came two years later. Also, a girl, she had been unsafely abandoned as a newborn and was found in a critical condition.

“She spent the next five months in hospital. Then she came to me. She had what appeared to be a similar condition to Busi’s: severe failure to thrive and malabsorption. I was simply not going to let the same thing happen to her that had happened to Busi. It didn’t take long after she first felt what a family is for her to begin to thrive, gaining weight and meeting motor milestones.”

The girl went on to face profound challenges – seizures, a diagnosis of autism and “PDD-NOS” (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified).

“It was one of the hardest times of my life. This was my baby, my beautiful, big-eyed girl, whom I dressed in frilly pink dresses and tied bows in her hair, reduced to a file and a term.”

When others suggested she give the child back to child services, Emma did the opposite and formally adopted her, refusing to give up on her and choosing instead to love her fiercely and unconditionally.

“Love is not conditional. Love doesn’t fit into neat categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Love does not divide children into camps of ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’. Love doesn’t return its gifts when they become inconvenient. Love is risky. Love is painful. Love is expensive. Love is messy,” Emma says.

Perhaps Emma’s most acutely painful experience as a foster mom has been with the little boy who was placed with her and his mother on the day he was born.

“The circumstances were tragic, and so was what happened next. But that is not my story to tell.”

His start may have been heartbreaking, but it hasn’t dimmed his light. One of his biggest hopes is to celebrate his birthday by gifting a T-shirt and a party pack to people who have less than he does.

“This little guy is walking, talking Beatitudes. He is not less than or less worthy. None of my children is. Each one is a profound gift. Each one has revealed to me a life that is deeper and more meaningful than most people get to experience in a lifetime.”

That is the reality of being a foster parent. A life that can also be acutely lonely.

“That is why Kin Culture matters, and why it is needed. That is why community support matters. Children belong in families. That can only happen if those families are accepted, celebrated and supported – however different they may look,” emphasises Emma.

The support Emma has received through Kin Culture has meant a great deal to her. And if you’ve wondered about the significance of organisations and communities that walk alongside foster families, this is it: they help alleviate the suffering of innocent children, extend a lifeline to struggling biological families, stand with selfless foster parents through trying seasons and contribute to raising some of the most special human beings.

You are invited to contact Kin Culture directly to find ways of getting involved in caring for foster families in your area.