A Heart for Fostering Children

On a soccer field sideline, the Tramuto family cheers on 8-year-old Evie. Parents Katie and Rob have four children – Charlie Kate, 12, Davis, 10, Evie, 8, and Brooks, 8 – who are all there to watch. This game is just one stop on a busy Saturday filled with activities. 

Rob holds their 11-day-old foster baby. The care and attention they will pour into her will be temporary – but will have lasting effects. 

“We were given just a short notice by our organization that she was coming to us,” said Katie. She had been at a doctor’s appointment with one of her children when her phone rang. It was her foster agency. When she answered, they said, “There is a 6-day-old baby; can you take her?” Katie says with fostering, no matter the age of the child, you cannot overthink it. “You just have to say yes. If you think too hard, you will not do it.”

The Tramuto family has been fostering children, from tiny babies to older children, for the past 10 years. They have fostered more than 30 children, keeping them from as little as 24 hours for emergency placement care, to up to 11 months. “We are in it for whatever they need,” said Katie.

The kids running around their mom and dad at the soccer game, with their new foster sibling, is a glimpse into Katie and Rob’s daily lives – a life of fostering, where love, sacrifice, tears, and service all intersect.

Katie, who homeschools their four children, and Rob, a director of business applications for a school safety software company, foster through the nonprofit organization Loving Houston Foster and Adoption Ministries. They are approved to foster through the state, and have undergone training, inspections, and regular steps to keep up to date with their qualifications. 

Their four children have grown up alongside their foster siblings. It is a family affair, and they are all on board to do it. They have received feedback along the way, particularly in the beginning. “Some did not know why we would choose to bring the hard into our family,” said Katie. “But [over time], we have seen our family and friends grow in their understanding of foster care and foster children that have come through our home.” 

Katie and Rob learned about fostering through a program at their church, and felt a calling to serve. Now, they have fostered children ranging from a few days old, to toddlers, to older kids. “At first, Rob was a little hesitant to do it, but after we got in the car after church, he said, ‘I want our kids to have love for other people like these people do.’”

For the Tramutos, it is about serving. “The Lord put it in my heart more than a decade ago to care for these kids,” said Rob. “That our home, and one of the directions of our family, would be to provide a loving and safe home for them. To have our kids join us on this journey has been so rewarding,” Rob said.

Fostering is not just something they do – it is at the core of their family values. But it is not always easy. It is a lifestyle built around love, patience, and the desire to teach their children to care for others. “We want to teach our children to love others like Jesus,” said Katie. 

For Katie, fostering fills not only her home, but her heart. “My love language is more babies,” she says with a laugh. She grew up with three brothers, and Rob two sisters, and now enjoys what she says is “controlled chaos” at her home. “We do not have the biggest home, but it is filled with love,” she said.

Their day-to-day routine is anything but easy, but it is rewarding. “Every time a foster child leaves our house, it is hard,” she says. “We always discuss it with our kids and make sure they still want to continue fostering.”

There are often tears when the foster child departs their home, but they are grateful to stay in touch with some of their foster children’s families. “We are sometimes able to get pictures of kids after they leave our home,” said Katie. “It is fun when other families from our agency adopt a kid we have had in our home, and we get to follow them as they grow up.”

FOSTERING LOVE The Tramuto family (pictured, watching their daughter Charlie Kate cheer at a football game) learned about fostering children through their church 10 years ago. They foster through the organization Loving Houston Foster and Adoption Ministries.

Fostering, for the Tramutos, is a family decision. They have built their household around shared responsibilities and honest conversations, constantly checking in with their kids to ensure that everyone is on board. 

Katie’s day as a mom and a foster mom begins at 5:30 a.m. when she wakes up to feed their foster baby. After a few sacred quiet moments with coffee, she walks the dogs and catches up with Rob, who works from home. By 7:30 a.m., their four kids start to wake up, and breakfast is a family affair. From 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., they tackle homeschooling through their university model school, followed by household chores and baby care.

Afternoons are a mix of free time for the children, games, and outdoor activities, while Katie often takes their foster baby for a visit with their birth mother. Evenings are packed with extracurricular activities – dance, soccer, cheer, gymnastics, and baseball – but they make family dinners happen as often as possible. “It is one of my favorite things we do, even when it is crazy busy,” Katie says.

For the Tramuto children, fostering has shaped their lives in profound ways. She and Rob have worked hard to involve their children in the process, explaining what fostering means and encouraging them to express their feelings when a foster sibling leaves. “We talk about it openly,” Katie says, “and we always give them the choice to say if it is too much.” Despite the challenges, they continue to stay on the path they feel they have been led to. 

Katie says, for those who want to help in ways other than fostering, the Oak Forest Foster Closet, a local organization, is always in need of supplies like formula, diapers, and gently used clothing. “Not everyone is called to foster, but anyone can support foster families,” Katie says. 

The Oak Forest Foster Closet, which provides essential items for foster families, has become a lifeline for the Tramutos. Donating to organizations like this can relieve some of the burdens foster families face, especially when it comes to the practical needs of caring for children who often arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs. 

Katie’s advice for anyone considering fostering? “Be prepared for it to change your life,” she says. “It’s not easy, and it’s not always pretty, but it’s worth it.” There are steps to take during the application process, including background checks, home inspections to keep up to date, training, and more (which can be found at dfps.texas.gov; read more about Loving Houston here).

The Tramutos have opened their home and hearts to so many children, and through it all, have remained a family unit, changing the lives of not only their foster children, but their own.