An Orlando Family with plenty of love to share

Several years ago, when Dianne and Horace Jaimeson decided to open up their hearts and home to foster children in the Orlando community, they couldn’t have imagined that their decision would ultimately result in fostering six children and adopting one. Dianne, who is 56 years old, found out about foster care while attending an informational session at Community Based Care of Central Florida (CBC) with a friend of hers.  Community Based Care is a local non-profit organization that helps local children who are victims of, or at risk for, abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment. CBC services include fostering, adoption, and mentoring.

Shortly after Dianne attended the informational session on foster care, she and her husband decided to step forward and begin the training. At the time, the Jaimesons had two grown boys of their own, one 28 and the other 38 years of age and knew that foster parenting would certainly be a challenge.  “It broke my heart to see these children,” Dianne says with emotion. “I remembered how my own boys grew up having so much, and many of these children had never had, or even heard of, a birthday party.”

After completing the Foster Care Program at Community Based Care, they received their first foster child, an 8-year-old boy named Eric. “He was the cutest little boy,” Dianne recalls. She and her husband Horace worked through some difficult times with Eric, who had a tendency to get into fights. A year and a half later Eric was put up for adoption, and Dianne and Horace eagerly adopted him. That was six years ago, and today he is a happy, healthy young man of fourteen.

“It’s awesome to have Eric, and he’s doing very well emotionally, medically, and in just about every way. He’s really come a long way. The first night after the adoption, we stopped all his medications. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but we did it, and it seemed to work. When he was on his meds, he was always groggy. Two days after we stopped the medications, he was like a normal child,” Dianne states.

In the end, Eric seemed to do very well without the medications. “He’s on the honor roll at school! He takes fish oils and vitamins, and he’s healthy,” Dianne reports. “He couldn’t read when we got him and now he’s reading; he has all the Twilight novels. Eric is doing well.”

About a year after Eric’s adoption, Community Based Care contacted the Jaimesons to see if they would be interested in fostering two more boys. The Jaimesons decided to open up their home once more and welcomed David and Shaun into their family. “David was a hard case. He suffered from seizures and had to see a specialist on a regular basis,” says Dianne.

David lived in the circle of the Jaimesons’ love for two and a half years, until his birth mother decided that she wanted to take him back to live with her. “It’s very emotional when a child has to leave. Three of the six kids we’ve fostered have left and that’s been very hard,” Dianne says. “The first was David. It took his mom about five hours to get him out of our house. David was torn because he was here with us for so long. He remembered his mother, but we were mom and dad to him. It was heartbreaking when he left.”

Shaun has been part of the Jaimeson family for two years now. He has aged-out of foster care, which means that since he turned 18 in April, he is no longer a minor and has been released from the foster care system. “Shaun doesn’t want to leave, so he is going to stay with us. However, it’s still possible that he might move to a group home,” Dianne notes. “He’s such a good kid and we haven’t had any problems with him.”

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. Currently, the Jaimesons are fostering two young men while raising their adopted son, Eric. Dianne and Horace want to spread the word about the joys of fostering a child in need of a good home. “If you know how to be a loving parent, then you can do this,” Dianne says with urgency. “Nurture these children and give them as much love as you possibly can.”

There are 350 foster homes needed for children in Central Florida. Are you interested in becoming a foster parent and making a positive change in a child’s life?
Here’s what it takes to become a foster parent:

1. Foster or adoptive parents can be single, married, or in a stable relationship.
2. The first step to becoming a foster parent is to contact Community Based Care of Central Florida and speak with an adoption recruiter, who will review all the requirements with you.
3. You will need to complete a 10-week training and preparation course called PRIDE (Parent Resource for Information Development and Education).
4. You must pass all eligibility requirements including:

• Background checks
• Home Study
• Safety inspection of the home
• Reference checks
• Financial verification

For more information about upcoming foster or adoption classes (PRIDE) in Seminole, Orange or Osceola Counties, please call 1-866-90-CHILD or visit www.cbcseminole.org.