Low Tide Lighthouse
Support for foster and adoptive parents who want honest preparation, steady guidance, and a place to ask the real questions.
If you are considering foster care or adoption, already parenting through it, or trying to understand what life after adoption really looks like, you are in the right place. This is a space to slow down, get clear, and find support grounded in lived experience.
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 journey changes everything.
Foster care and adoption do not just affect your family story. They shape a child’s story too. That is why it matters to understand the reality before saying yes.
If you found your way here, you may be in one of two places:
you are considering foster care or adoption and trying to understand what this path will really require, or you are already living it and trying to keep up with the emotional, practical, and relational demands of parenting a child from hard places.
I have lived in both places too.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.
Low Tide Lighthouse was created by Saraphina Mare; drawing from lived experience, years in the system, and a deep commitment to guiding families with honesty and clarity. This journey can be overwhelming, exhausting, and at times deeply painful. I know because I have lived it.
There were nights I cried, yelled, and begged for someone to come into my home and tell me what I was supposed to do. I attended training after training hoping the next one would finally give me the 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 learned something important: there are no easy answers, and real support matters.
Trauma is layered. Children are layered. Families are layered. And I understand that not only as a former foster parent and now an adoptive parent, but also as someone who was adopted and has lived with grief, loss, and identity questions of my own.
Why this exists
That lived experience is what led me to create Low Tide Lighthouse.
This is a place for honest preparation, practical guidance, and steady support for families who want more than a checklist or a quick pep talk. Whether you are just beginning to explore foster care or you are already living inside the realities of it, this space exists to help you move forward with more clarity and less fear.
Who this is for
You may be in the right place if you are:
Considering foster care or adoption and want real preparation before saying yes.
Currently fostering and feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or unsure how to respond to what is happening in your home.
Parenting through adoption or kinship care and need support with identity, attachment, grief, 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 have supported long before Low Tide Lighthouse existed.
I highly recommend Mare 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 I help
You do not have to figure this out all at once. You just need to know where to start
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
COMING SOON. Guided support 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 are exploring foster care, currently parenting through it, or trying to make sense of what you are experiencing, you do not have to figure it out alone.