READINESS & CONTAINMENT
Low tide reveals what was always there, but couldn’t be seen until now. And sometimes, it shows you that what once felt steady… has shifted.
This site exists to slow you down. Because foster care and adoption doesn’t just change your life they become part of a child’s story too. You deserve the full picture before you say yes.
If you found your way here, you are probably in one of two places. You may be considering foster care or adoption and researching everything you can about what this journey will really look like. Or you may already be in it, searching for answers about how to help the child in your home and how to keep yourself afloat at the same time. I have been in both of those places.
The truth is this journey can be overwhelming, exhausting, and at times downright painful. I know because I have lived it.
There were nights I cried, yelled, and begged for someone to come into my home and just tell me what I was supposed to do. I attended training after training, hoping the next class would finally give me answers. Most of the time I left with the same advice: be patient, try “time-in,” and contact your worker for additional services. After more than 300 hours of training, conferences, and workshops, I can tell you something honestly: there were still days I wished someone would walk into my house and say, “Oh, this is easy. Just do this and this.”
But anyone who has lived this reality knows it is not that simple. Trauma is layered. Children are layered. Families are layered. And I understand that personally, not only as a previous foster parent and now an adoptive parent, but also as someone who was adopted myself and has lived with my own layers of grief, loss, and identity questions.
That lived experience is what led me to create Low Tide Lighthouse.
Some people arrive here because they are considering foster care or adoption. Others are already in it and trying to figure out how to keep going. Low Tide Lighthouse exists to bring clarity, steadiness, and structure to this journey, before it begins and while you are living it.
This is not a place for quick approval or surface level encouragement. This is a place for honest preparation, real conversation, and guidance from someone who has actually lived inside the system.
You may be in the right place if you are:
• Considering foster care or adoption and want real preparation, not just a checklist.
• Currently fostering or parenting through adoption and feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or unsure how to navigate what’s happening in your home.
• You have adopted or are raising a child through kinship care and want support navigating identity, attachment, and long-term parenting.
This work centers children, but it also supports the adults whose lives are deeply impacted by the system.
These words come from families I’ve supported long before Low Tide Lighthouse existed.
I highly recommend Heather for her outstanding support in foster care, adoption, kinship, and post-adoption resources. She guided me through complex questions with clarity, accuracy, and care, helping me make informed decisions every step of the way. Her knowledge of post-adoption benefits was especially valuable and reflects her deep understanding of the system. As both a foster and adoptive parent and someone with lived kinship experience, Mare brings a rare combination of personal insight and practical expertise. She is knowledgeable, approachable, and deeply committed to supporting children and families.” - S.J. foster and adoptive mom
There are more stories like this on the Reflections page
How This Work Supports Families
You don’t have to figure this out all at once. You just need to know where you are starting.
Considering Foster Care or Adoption
A place to slow down, ask honest questions, and understand what this path truly requires before saying yes.
→ Explore Start Here
Currently Parenting Through Foster Care
Support for foster parents navigating the emotional weight of loving children from hard places while working within the child welfare system.
→ Find Support
Adoptive & Kinship Parents
Adoption does not end the journey — in many ways it begins a new one. This space offers guidance for families navigating identity, grief, attachment, and long-term parenting after adoption or kinship placement.
→ Explore Support
The Lighthouse Programs
Low Tide Lighthouse offers structured support for families at different stages of the foster care and adoption journey, from those considering the path to those already navigating the realities of parenting children from hard places.
Below are the primary ways families work with me.
The Shore Walk
An honest introduction to foster care and adoption before you say yes. Best for individuals and couples who are considering foster care or adoption, who want honest preparation before starting licensing, and are ready to ask the real questions before saying yes.
Before the Tide
Best for individuals or couples actively considering foster care, families currently in training, and those unsure whether they are truly ready.
The Channel Guide
Guided support through the licensing process and the first months of placement, helping families prepare for the realities of welcoming a child from hard places into their home.
The Lighthouse Session
Support for families preparing to adopt from foster care, helping them understand the services, benefits, and long-term resources their child may be entitled to.
Low Tide
For current foster or adoptive parents who need a place to process, regain stability, and receive guidance during challenging seasons of the journey.
Why I Do This Work
I didn’t come to this work from the outside. I grew up connected to the foster care system and later spent more than a decade fostering and adopting children myself. Along the way I also trained foster parents, worked inside an adoption agency, and completed hundreds of hours of education in trauma-informed care. But my deepest understanding did not come from training alone. It came from living it.
I know what it feels like to step into this work with good intentions and slowly realize how complex, emotional, and demanding it truly is.
Low Tide Lighthouse exists because families deserve honest preparation, practical guidance, and a place to pause and think clearly about what this journey requires.
Some families are still deciding whether foster care or adoption is right for them. Others are already parenting children from hard places and navigating the realities of trauma, systems, and healing.
Wherever you are in the journey, support exists here.
Not sure where to begin?
If you’re exploring foster care, currently parenting through it, or simply trying to make sense of what you’re experiencing, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
→ Start Here and review The Lighthouse Programs