News
Half a century later, some things haven't changed: A tribute to Johnnie Thompson
By: Rachel Goldman Sklar, Permanency Analyst - May/June 2006 Contra Costa County Newsletter
My spirit seemed to float on a little cloud as I listened to Johnnie Thompson talk about her fifty years of experience as a foster parent. While I looked around her living room, she told proud stories and reminisced fondly about some of the over 200 children that had been in and out of her home. It was clear that each one of them had a one-way ticket to her heart.
Times were different fifty years ago when Johnnie Thompson joined the ranks as a foster parent. Her first child was a little girl from Contra Costa County, who arrived on her doorstep before her licensing application was complete. She explained that counties were desparate for African-American families to care for children. She began to care for such a sibling set from Marin County. Then their cousin arrived, then two more brothers from the same family, plus another little girl…and before she knew it, Johnnie and her husband, Frank, had raised all six children to adulthood. The social workers never approached her about guardianship or adoption because in those days, long-term foster care seems like a good enough permanency option. In this case, it was. Johnnie has a shrine of photos displaying her six foster children as adults with all of their children.
Her shrine also displays recognition awards, gifts from her many foster children, and newspaper clippings about her dedicated service. She boasts two seventies-style photo albums complete with pictures of nearly all the children who came into her care. I point to one randomly and ask, “What about this one?” She tells me that the child was reunified with the birth mother. ”How about this one?” I ask. She says, “Oh, those are my boys.” One was an athlete; the other child, tragically, passed away. Focusing on the positive, she says, “There are nice little stories behind all those kids.”
When I tell her that she obviously has a lot of love in her heart, she says, “I love all my children. Of course, I miss them when they are adopted or go home.” But somehow, Johnnie manages to stay in touch with many of them. She and her late husband are godparents, and her relationships with adoptive and birth families remain strong. She has one former child that keeps in touch with her from prison. He promises to take care of her when he’s out.
Johnnie feels that the Department’s changes over the years have been for the better. She appreciates and avails herself to the many training opportunities, and is pleased that things are so easy now. ”Everything you want is available. You have a number to call and they help you.” Things didn’t used to be so easy, she explains, and I see her point. After all, social workers didn’t always have voice mail, and the community colleges didn’t always provide classes on how to get the job done. Johnnie’s advice to new foster parents is to be flexible, listen to the social worker, listen to the birth mother, and take all those classes, because the “children will challenge you.”
It’s clear that she has taught children plenty over the years, but I want to know what they have taught her. She meets my question with silence. I ask her if it’s a hard question. “No.” In fact, it is an easy question, which brings all of Johnnie’s wisdom to the surface. She explains that each one taught her something different about who they were and how to get along with them. She assures me that all you have to do is listen to them, and they will teach you everything you need to know.
Johnnie is grateful that she has lived long enough to see so many successful children. She says she plans to retire from foster parenting in May 2006, and I ask her what she will do. She looks forward to travelling, continuing her work in the church, and having company in her house. I can only imagine the number of foster youth that will still find their way into her home long after she has retired.
When asked what her husband, who died in 1986, would have said if he were here for this interview, Johnnie said, “He’d be grinning if he were here, and thinking about all the good times.” Maybe it was his grin smiling down on us that made me feel so light in my chair, and my spirit float on a cloud.