As you walk into Patricia Dozier’s house in northwest Washington on any given evening, there is a frenzy activity. Life is never dull for Dozier, with six children currently living under her roof. Juggling a 12-hour work day, and caring for her children is not easy, and it is one of the reasons that she was named “D.C. Foster Parent of the Year.” Child and Family Services of Washington D.C. awards this prestigious honor every year. A panel of social workers nominates and selects exceptional foster parents, and then reviews the candidates carefully. When looking at Dozier, they saw she was a selfless woman who has devoted herself to about 10 to 15 foster children over the past 10 years. She also now has three adopted children of her own, and is always willing to help out wherever and whenever she can.

This is a vast difference from the Dozier of many years ago, when she was homeless and struggling with substance abuse and addictions.

After living on the streets of D.C. for several years, Dozier turned her life around and entered Alcoholic Anonymous. Shortly after this, she went through a program to become a foster parent, in order to care for a friend’s daughter. This foster child has since become one of her adopted daughters.

These past experiences led Dozier to her passion for children and what has become her life’s work. “I felt a calling for children,” Dozier said, “God leads me that way.” In addition to taking in foster children whenever possible, Dozier also works full time with the Good Shepherd Ministries, running support groups for mothers. In the past, she directed an after school program for children, but gave that up in order to devote her energy more fully to her children at home.

As much work as Dozier does for the community, her first priority is always to her own adopted and foster children. She does many things for the children, but there is one important thing that she never forgets to do.

“I sing to every child—they’ll remember that,” she said.

It is the personal touches such as singing that distinguish Dozier as a model foster parent. While she has gotten used to fostering children, and keeping up with their busy lives, there is one aspect of being a foster parent that Dozier still must work on.

“Letting go [when the children leave] is something I have to work on all the time,” she said, “trusting in God, knowing the same God that loves me, loves them.”

However, Dozier still does keep in contact with many of her previous foster children, and reports that most of them are doing quite well.

As Dozier sits at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee, there is a flurry of activity around the house. But she does not seem to mind. Dozier is the kind of selfless woman that creates her own happiness by creating happiness for others. She has a very simple reasoning behind all the good that she does for those around her, “We were raised by a community of people who loved us,” she said, “and God wants me to give that [love] back to the community. What a better community to give back to than my own?”

While Dozier already has given more back to the community than many others will in a lifetime, she still feels that she has gotten many things out of her experiences as a foster parent and a parent advocate. She was very excited and proud to meet people such as Laura Bush, John Edwards and Bill Cosby. However, the joy that her children bring her trumps everything else. Her eyes sparkle as she talks about all of her children, and it becomes obvious to anyone how she finds the energy and strength to devote herself so selflessly to others.

Dozier describes her feelings about being a foster parent in a plain and straightforward way, “It’s a joy, it’s a struggle, it’s a pain, it’s a sorrow.”