TikTok | @fostertheteens

Foster Mom Earns Praise For How Sweetly She Welcomes Kids In Need

One foster parent has recently gone viral on TikTok after her heartwarming explanation of how she prepares for welcoming a new foster child into her home touched the hearts of millions.

The video was designed to inspire current and aspiring foster parents to go the extra mile when meeting a new foster child for the first time.

Brittany Burcham is a foster mom from Alabama.

Ms Burcham has been doing amazing work taking in teenage girls who have found themselves in protective custody only since October 2019, but she is also looking like a pro.

In instances where a child is in need of a placement in an emergency, the child can naturally be very scared and anxious — therefore, Ms Burcham does everything she can to make them feel at home.

Ms Burcham started her video by explaining that she starts off by providing the kids with a welcome pack.

The welcome pack is filled with essentials, as kids can often arrive in a hurry with dirty clothes and nothing else.

"I learned what's needed in my welcome basket over time. When a kid is given a trash bag and told to pack their items [within] 10 minutes, most of them do not think about deodorant or a toothbrush," Ms Burcham explained to BuzzFeed.

"They're grabbing clothes, sentimental items, and their makeup. So...I have a foster closet stocked with [necessities], plus other [commodities] that I don't include in every basket but have available, like razors, underwear, socks, and hair products for my African American girls," she continued.

Ms Burcham, in her video, explains that she always makes sure to wash the kid's clothes before taking them to a local Shake Shack to try and talk to them in a "neutral area."

Ms Burcham is also very passionate about not making the children feel unwanted or like "trash."

Ms Burcham always makes sure that the children she cares for have proper duffel bags to keep their belongings in, a much better alternative to the trash bags that most kids will turn up with.

"[The kid's] clothes and sentimental items aren't trash. But we tell them to put them in trash bags when they move foster homes. That's just unacceptable to me," she further explained in a statement.

The duffel bags that she gives to the children, she believes, "gives them the dignity they deserve."

After taking the kids to the Shake Shack, Ms Burcham will watch a film or TV show with the kids before it's time for bed.

"There are other people [at the Shake Shack] and it's not just me staring at them and talking to them. We can eat and casually talk under twinkle lights on the patio, and it helps them relax and open up," Ms Burcham went on to clarify.

The lengths to which Ms Burcham goes to make sure that the foster children that she looks after are relaxed and treated with dignity has been lauded by countless people across the internet, with individuals writing such comments as:

"Foster kid here [...] Thank you for everything your family does, it's so beautiful."

"Giving foster kids their own duffel bag or suitcase is the smallest but so important of comforts. Thank you for being a shining light in their lives."

After seeing the video, Ms Burcham's local Shake Shack even reached out in the kindest way.

It is no surprise that someone from the local Shake Shack saw the video, as it has now been seen by over 3.4 million people! However, Ms Burcham posted an update some time after the video's release writing:

"[Shake Shack] came through by providing a gift card that will pay for the first night's meal for every child that comes to me for the next year!"

What a wonderful gesture! Ms Burcham is really going the extra mile to show that there really are good people out in the world!

h/t: BuzzFeed

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