feature story by Bailey Hemphill • photo by Bill Sitzmann
Family Success Story
The Goertz family with their four biological children and their nine foster children.
The Goertzes
H
that family that carts around tons of kids and wondered, “How in the world do they do it?” Look no further than the Goertz family of Bennington. Larry and Heather Goertz have four kids: Tayler, 20, Zachary, 16, Kassidy, 14, and Amber, 10. That might already sound like a crazy brood, but it gets crazier. You see, the Goertzes are also foster parents to two different sets of kids. There are the four “little ones”— siblings ages 15 mos., 3, 4, and 5—who don’t live with them, but whom they see every few weeks from morning until night. And then there are the “five”—siblings ages 2½, 8, 10, 12, and 15—who are with them full-time. Sound crazy yet? “There are hard days,” says Heather, who’s an occupational therapist. “But when we’re all together, that’s when it’s the greatest.” She says that getting the okay from their kids was very important to her and Larry when they made the decision to get involved with foster care. “We’re a foster family, not foster parents.” Their foster care adventure began in 2011 after their oldest daughter, Tayler, graduated from high school. “It was hard letting go of her,” Heather explains. “[But] we looked around and » ave you ever seen
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We’re a foster family, not foster parents. -Heather Goertz
HerFamily • September 2013 17