Fostering love: The Smith family

PROGRESS 2018— When Clint and Heather Smith married, they both wanted a big family with at least four children. But after their first daughter Samantha was born, efforts to have more children were never successful – until they decided to add to their family another way.

In 2011 the Smiths sold the 1,100-square-foot house they had been living in for 16 years and upgraded to a much larger home, but with their daughter graduating high school and planning to go to college in Tuscaloosa, Heather began to think about how empty that big house would be.

“I said, why don’t we do foster care?” Heather said. She and Clint began to discuss the idea, and after more than a year of talking and praying, Heather was overcome by the conviction that they were meant to share all the space and all the love they had to give. “It was like God just spoke to me and said, ‘I’m not going to put this on your heart if it’s not what you’re meant to do.’”

For Clint, the moment he became convinced was during an event at church, an outreach program for families in need.

“We had a dinner at church for the Angel Tree children, the less fortunate,” Clint said. “We fed 200 people that night. We had a lot of kids that came through, and grandmothers were telling us that this was all the Christmas they were going to get. One kid, all he wanted was a football. We had like 12 footballs, and we gave him one, and he was just so happy.” Seeing those children in need opened Clint’s eyes and tugged at his heart. “You realize there is a need in this town, in this county, for people to take care of these kids. These kids are the future.”

In 2013, Sam was a senior in high school, and the three of them began the required classes to become a certified foster family.

“I had mixed emotions about it. I was excited, but I had been an only child for 18 years,” Sam said. But as they continued the certification process, Sam said her excitement grew and her reservations shrank.

The Smiths finished their classes on a Monday and brought home their first foster placement – Allie, Zeth and Teresa – Friday of the same week.

“I was the first one to get to meet the three of them,” Sam said. “Allie was 9, and I walked in the playroom at DHR, and the first thing she said the me, like a little mother, was ‘Hi, my name is Allie. You must be our new older foster sister.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I am. I’m Samantha.’ And she said, ‘You do know that you’re our sixth foster home, correct? … If you’re not planning to adopt us, then you don’t need to take us home.’ I knew then that she was never going anywhere.”

The three were available for adoption through the foster care system, but adoption wasn’t in the cards for the Smiths, to begin with. “My daughter was 18, and I thought, ‘What if I have a grandchild in a few years?’” Heather said. “I want to be able to be the grandmother I want to be.” But after a few more nights and mornings in sincere, searching prayer, God answered her: “You wanted four children. You will have your four children.” So March 29, 2013, the Smiths brought Allie, Zeth and Teresa home. Sept. 29, 2014, the adoption was official.

The Smiths were destined, however, to add one more sibling to the mix.

When Allie, Zeth and Teresa’s birth mother was expecting her fourth child, she called Heather to see if the Smiths would adopt baby Lora, too. Heather was on the fence at first, however, unsure about adding one more child – especially since she and Clint were getting older. Clint was on board more quickly: “What’s one more kid?” Sam urged her parents to adopt Lora too, to keep the four siblings together, and so they finally brought home another Smith.

Even with a family of seven – Clint and Heather, Sam (23), Allie (14), Zeth (12), Teresa (9) and Lora (2) – plus Sam’s husband Jabbar Franklin and their son Bentley, the Smiths found there was still room in their hearts and their home for more children. So the family has continued fostering. Heather said it was at Allie, Zeth and Teresa’s urging that they decided to continue. “I like having a bunch of kids in our house. It’s crazy, but it’s fun,” said Allie. Zeth added, “And I needed a brother.”

Children have come and gone over the years. Bella (5), Tyler (7) and Brittany (13) came to the Smiths as foster placements in May 2017.

All the school-age children are students at Phil Campbell, and they are all involved in something. Zeth and Tyler play youth football, which Clint helps coach. Brittany and Allie are on the dance line at PCHS. Teresa and Zeth are interested in youth basketball.

“We usually say we’re running on Jesus and crazy,” Heather said.

The whole family is active at Gravel Hill Baptist Church. “My husband and I vowed, when we started foster care: We will always take our children to church,” Heather said. Clint teaches Sunday School, and Heather teaches children’s church once a month.

“The second thing we vowed was, we will always sit around the dinner table every night to eat supper. Every night,” Heather said. “No devices, no electronics, no TV, no nothing.”

Their family enjoys togetherness when they aren’t all headed in different directions: playing kickball in the front yard, watching movies or TV or going out to eat – Logan’s Roadhouse is the family favorite.

When they think about family, the Smiths see it as a blessing they are determined to share.

“I have always had my family. Even our extended family, we have always been so close. When Allie, Zeth and Teresa came to live with us … You could tell they just needed somebody to love them,” said Sam. “It made me realize how lucky I was to not ever have to go through that. I’ve always been so loved and so cared for and gotten everything that I want, whereas some kids don’t have anything.” Now she said she feels like her younger siblings have been part of the family her whole life – and she has been motivated to go into social work as a profession.

“I went into foster care to love on children until they can return home,” Heather said. “I believe 100 percent that a child should always be with their parents if at all possible.” Clint and Sam said Heather almost fosters the mothers too, helping and encouraging them as they work within the system to get their children back, even providing financial support – and even continuing to support the families after the children return home, connecting with them in compassion on a personal level. She keeps in touch with all of her children.

The Smiths encouraged prospective foster parents to have open minds, open hearts – and to do it for the children. They commended Franklin County Department of Human Resources for having Franklin children’s best interests at heart.

At the end of the day, the Smiths agreed, family isn’t about being connected by blood. Instead, as Allie put it, “Family is when you have people around you who love you more than you could ever love yourself.”