BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The need for foster parents — a safe, welcoming home — is high.

Meet a family who is a shining example of opening their home and hearts to a child who desperately needed a family.

You'll find the Sander Family on the playground five days a week, with four kids under the age of 10.

Mom, Maria Sander, was an only child growing up. For her, Christmases included just her mom and stepdad. 

But then she met her future husband, Andrew Sander, one of seven kids.

Quite the contrast.

“I went to, like, the first Christmas at his house and they had, you know, his siblings were there and their kids and stuff, and I was like, ‘Man, I really love this, I really want this for us,’ and here we are,” Maria Sander explains.

But for the past three years, the couple has been fostering Elijah through Brevard Family Partnership.

You might think the Sanders would be overwhelmed.

"He just fits right in. He clicks. My kids loved him from the get-go. I mean, he just blended right in our family,” Maria Sander says.

According to Florida Children First, Florida had just more than 4,500 foster homes in 2022. The state added more than 1,400 homes, but about 1,100 closed, essentially wiping out that number.

Some foster parents decide adoption is their best option, but others burned out.

According to Brevard Family Partnership, the county went from 171 homes in 2021 to only 128 in 2023. Brevard Family Partnership has 415 kids in foster care and group homes who are not with relatives.

There is a desperate need for foster parents, with a goal of 65 new homes by summer 2024.

Maria Sander says fostering is tough, but well worth it.

"The goal is to reunify with the parents, so it's just kind of just putting ourselves out there and loving them as much as we can for the time that we have them," she says.

But it’s good news for the Sander family, as they have grown by one.

Elijah has been officially adopted as of the end of February.