Our names are Christy and Jeff Foster. Christy is currently 36 years old. Jeff is currently 34 years old. We do not yet have any children, but we do have one long term foster child that we hope to one day adopt. Christy loves to sew, quilt, crochet, knit, read, hike, swim, and camp. Jeff loves to cook, make jewelry, hike, swim, camp, and hunt. Christy works full-time for Engineering West as a CAD Technician and has a flexible work schedule. Jeff works full-time for Stonesfaire Property Management as a maintenance supervisor. We attend an evangelical church regularly. We believe that if a child is old enough to stay home alone after school and during the summer he/she is old enough to make decisions regarding whether he/she attends church (either ours or a different one) or not go at all.

We spend most of our time playing with our foster children, watching TV, playing with our dogs, or taking care of household chores. We have room for and plan to eventually get some horses, which will add more chores but also more fun activities at home.

We really enjoy a variety of movies, especially action movies like The Avengers and comedies like Mrs. Doubtfire. We also enjoyed Big Hero 6 and Frozen. Disney movies are lots of fun!

We live in the State of Montana. Our home is a single family home. We live in a Rural neighborhood, but Columbus is only a 10 minute drive away. We have two dogs.

We go camping, swimming, and hiking. We enjoy going to the movies together. We attend sporting activities when a child is participating on a team. We allow a child's interests to dictate what activities we will do together sometimes as well. We enjoy experiencing new things and places, so there will be lots of travel opportunities. We live near a small town that has several activities for children. Soccer, baseball, basketball, and football are all activities outside of school that younger kids can participate in. Additionally, the high school has volleyball, track, basketball, football, and music programs for older kids. There is a community pool that's open all summer and a youth center for older kids that's open most afternoons throughout the year. There is a Christian camp nearby that has lots of camp activities. Billings is an hour drive away and has lots of arts and crafts activities, an indoor climbing complex, an art museum, and regular fairs and shows. There is an elementary school and a combined middle and high school. The schools are small, but the teachers are great and very willing to work toward helping every child do their best.

We have been licensed as a foster home for 3 years in Montana, and were licensed 1 year in Florida before we moved to Montana. We have had several children in our home - both short term and long term. We have dealt with a variety of behavioral issues that are the result of past trauma that these children have faced. Additionally, several of these children have had educational and medical issues.

We are very flexible in terms of figuring out what works best to motivate a child and how to address negative behaviors. We work very hard on connecting with every child that comes to our home in order to help them feel safe.

We understand how the foster system works because we are already licensed foster parents and have been in 2 different states. We know there will be some trauma that comes in stages of growth as a child comes to the understanding they will never be returned to their biological parents. We have great listening skills and make sure we keep lines of communication open at all times with kids and each other. Since we plan to continue to be a licensed foster home we will be able to utilize all resources available to us to help a child through any challenges that we can't overcome within our own home.

We have completed the MAPP class that is a licensing requirement in Florida. We have also kept up on our continuing education hours every year through reading books and scholarly articles, webcasts about behavior modification methods and ways to get children exposed to their cultural roots, and live seminars about attachment issues and how trauma affects children's brain development.

There are 3 licensed therapists in our town that we have utilized for working through past trauma, past abuse, and attachment issues. There are several occupational therapists and psychiatrists within an hour's drive of us that we can utilize as needed.

Other area foster families and our own family provide support for us. Our church and the state agency provide additional support as needed.