I Don’t Think You Need to Be 32 to Do What We Do by Myles Proulx, Manager of Resources and Community Partnerships with Family & Children’s Services of St Thomas and Elgin County Jill didn’t set out to become a foster parent. Growing up outside St. Thomas, she says she was “completely unaware of the need.” That changed in Toronto, where a weekly newspaper feature, Today’s Child, profiled children in care looking for homes. “That profound need kind of woke me up,” she recalls. “I knew at that point I was going to do something.” It took decades to get there. She raised five children largely as a single mother, in jobs that circled back to kids: a nonprofit daycare, mentoring young mothers, children’s ministry at her church. With four kids already grown, a car accident ended that chapter; she moved back to St. Thomas with her youngest daughter. Driving through town, she passed a roadside sign about the need for foster parents. The pull was instant and familiar. “It hit me like a ton of bricks,” she says, with the same jolt from those newspaper profiles: “That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” In her mid- fifties, with just one child still at home, now she was ready. “The timing was perfect. I jumped on it. It’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ve never regretted it.” Jill is candid that fostering isn’t only about reward. Her first placement, two young brothers, ended when their birth mother was able to have them placed back in her care. “I watched this mom climb mountains to get her kids back, and I supported her in that,” Jill says. “But the day they left, I was devastated.” She feels it with every child who goes home. “I know it’s coming, and I know it’s good, because it means I’ve loved them unconditionally.” She’s learned a harder lesson too: love and patience can’t always undo what a child has lived through. “There are things that are just so deep,” she says. She doesn’t take it personally; it’s part of the work. Has fostering taken more than it’s given her? “Not at all,” she says. “Often, I take home more than they do.” She’s watched several kids she fostered grow into parents. “If nothing else, I gave them some foundation.”
Jill doesn’t fit the stereotype of a foster parent. “I’m not your stereotypical foster family. I’m a single mom. I’m older. I started in my mid-fifties.” But she believes her age has made her better at this, not worse. In her thirties, raising five kids alone, she simply didn’t have the room. “Now my life is much calmer. I can make tons of room for these kids, where before I couldn’t have.” Her message for anyone on the fence: “I don’t think you need to be 32 to do what we do. Just having some maturity, and the ability to provide a peaceful, loving home, is something a lot more of us can do.” Nearly fifteen years later, she has no plans to stop. “I still have a ton to give. I’m not done.” Family & Children’s Services of St Thomas and Elgin hopes to find more people like her. The agency says the community doesn’t have enough local foster homes to keep every child close to home. Free information sessions are held monthly such as the one on September 8th at the agency’s office. Details at caselgin.on.ca or call 519 619-5952.
Boomers and Beyond Elgin September 2026 cover July 24th, the day the Model Ts came to town. Pictured here is Peter Murphy (of Lotus Thai) and his daughter with his Model T. Photo by Geoff Rae
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Boomers and Beyond – Elgin • September 2026 Page 3
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