Adopted at birth, she grew up in a foster family and continues her parents' legacy
'I always say I was born in the wrong place, ended up exactly where I was meant to'
Inside a brightly painted office on Pippy Place in St. John's, kids' artwork peppers the walls as a room full of women chat about their children.
Most of them are foster parents or work with the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development — and some are both.
"I just love it. There's not enough words that can describe the love that you can have for somebody else's child," said Pat Morris, who has been a foster parent for almost 37 years.
"When I had my second child, she was stillborn and when we went to the nursery — 'cause I had to go to the same floor where all the other moms and babies were — and there was three little bassinets over in the corner of the nursery, of little babies that were there all by themselves," Morris said.
The nurse told her those babies would go to foster homes and be put up for adoption, so the couple applied to be foster parents a month later.
"We've been fostering ever since," she said at the province's official proclamation of National Foster Families month.
Helping children who need it
Morris's smile is radiant as she talks about how much she and her husband love caring for children.
It has its challenges, she said, but the rewards of seeing kids happy and with parents who have worked hard to get them back are worth it.
"We're back to just sticking to children under two again now, because children coming into care nowadays, the older kids, are coming in with a lot of really challenging needs," she said when asked if she's tired after 37 years.
Her 15-month-old grandson, Gage, squirms in her arms.
Gage's mom, Sophie Morris, was adopted by Pat as a baby.
"I always say I was born in the wrong place, ended up exactly where I was mean to," said Sophie.
For the last five years, she has been a foster parent in the Conception Bay South area as well — growing up with the understanding that it's all about helping children whose parents can't, or who are in unsafe environments.
"I look at what my parents had done, helping over 100 children, and it just inspired me to kinda pass on that legacy and do that same kind of good for other people who need it," she said.
'Hats off to foster parents'
Children, Seniors and Social Development Minister Lisa Dempster said working with foster families is one of the most valuable things she does.
"I spoke with a gentleman that, I said, 'You've been fostering for 25 years. What inspired you to do that?' And he took me aside and he quietly shared a story of where he grew up in a foster home."
"It changed his life, and he wanted to give back. It's powerful," she said, emphasizing the importance of children in care being placed in loving homes where they'll have stability.
With roughly 580 foster families in the province and 1,000 children connected to the child protection system, Dempster said more foster parents are needed.
The department is working on it — but aging demographics are a factor, for example, as she said sometimes people get out of it because they're simply older after fostering for 30 years.
And Labrador — with 26,000 people — remains an area of focus.
"It's a small per cent of the province's population, but yes, about one-third of our children in care would be from Indigenous communities," said Dempster, noting there's more positive work around tackling these issues now than ever before.
Diane Molloy, executive director of the province's Foster Families Association, wants people to know "the amazing contribution" foster families make for "the well-being of our whole province," and to encourage more to do it.
"Hats off to foster parents, really, and to recognize and validate the important role they play in the whole child-protection system in our province," Molloy said.
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