My wife and I have wanted to bring foster children into our home for several years. She and my 2 kids are vegan and I'm a veganish vegetarian. Only vegan foods are in our home. The problem we see as we go further in the application process/ home-study is we're worried that our eating habits might make us undesirable foster parents. We really really don't want meat in our home or dairy however, we're thinking we might concede on and buy some dairy milk and cheese. We are looking at it from the perspective of very traumatized children coming into our home often removed from their homes the same day and being informed that it is meat,dairy, egg free household. I could see this as a major issue. I'm thinking that if we're commited to fostering (we are) we may have to bend on the meat and dairy issue. We talked to someone close about it and she said as a kid in care she would have been horrified by no turkey at christmas. We're thinking if it's really important to the kid maybe we could get a turkey dinner from a restaurant on christmas and bring it home. I'm thinking that maybe if we bend a bit than as these kids get to know us and like our food, perhaps some would have questions about why we eat this way, which may lead a few to consider becoming a veg*n.
We have decided that it is a deal breaker for cooking meat. Neither of us are willing to do that. We thought about getting a small fridge and maybe keeping deli slices or something in there This does make us uncomforatable, we've talked to our kids (8 and 10) about it and we are willing to make some uncomforatable concessions. I guess what I'm looking for are some opinions from veg*ns particularly those who have fostered. How did it work if you were a veg*n household? Did you make concessions? Did social workers tell you that you had to feed meat/dairy?
Thanks for reading!
