2019 has started very busy. We welcomed our 3 year old 2 days after Christmas not having a CLUE the phone call we would get exactly 2 weeks later. Foster parents are needed mainly because of parents making bad choices, not every time, but I’m willing to bet more times than not that is the reason their children go into care. It is what it is, everyone makes mistakes but it’s what you make of it and learn from it that makes a difference. I’m not in any place to judge. I will be brutally honest about my choices when my girls were little, I raised them through a screen door because I smoked too much to come inside! There was literally not a full minute between many of my cigarettes so I would yell and point into the house all evening saying creative things like don’t make me come in there... (insert eye roll here) I chose cigarettes over movie nights, board games, rocking babies to sleep even, so I try not to judge but I did quit smoking, I think I definitely have made up every movie night, game missed and snuggle since because I learned from it. My foster children reap the benefits of my learning also. I rocked that baby to sleep every nap and bedtime. It was more common than not that I held her through the entire nap. Before we had that stupid Xbox we had regular game nights and we not only watch movies regularly but we go to the theater often which is something I NEVER did as a smoker! Anyhow back to my point... when a foster parent screws up and looses their foster kids that is generally 100 times worse than what these babies birth parents did to loose them. That was their safe place, there chance at better often times, the place they will never get removed from until mom and dad get better. This is why we never dreamed that we would receive a phone call saying our previous 12 year old foster son needs to move back, his foster home is closing and all the children need homes, can he come back? Well that doesn’t require any thought, of course he can come back. There had been talks for quite awhile about him moving back with us but what we didn’t expect is it being because his foster parents put him and the other children in an unsafe environment. That house was FILLED with children and many of them are my kids cousins. Two children imparticular have spent time in our home and in my heart in the last year. Immediately I asked where they would be going, but of course my kids caseworker didn’t know because these kids aren’t even in the same agency as us. Panic started to begin. Some children’s pasts are more difficult than others, some way more heartbreaking. These children have pasts different than my foster children even though they come from the same family. I needed to let them know I love them but not even their foster parents knew what the next day had in store for them so I had to wait.
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