Category Archives: fostering

Opportunity?

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After bathing the two little ones, I came down to see the three older girls applying my black nail polish to their fingers and toes. When questioned, Ainsley* was discovered to be the culprit.

“I thought she asked you,” Dana* insisted.

“Even if she did, you know your foster mom doesn’t like you wearing black nail polish.” All three of the girls are with me for the weekend only. Ainsley is a new addition but Dana and Natalie* are regulars. They know not to touch my nail polish. And they know their foster mom has forbidden black or bright red nails.

Ainsley, on the other hand, had a few things to learn. This was the second time she’d been with me. The first, last week, came unexpectedly when her foster mom called wanting to drop her off late one night. Things are falling apart in Ainsley’s world. She and her three older sisters have been in foster care nearly a year. It’s a complicated situation I lack the details of. I do know recently, surprisingly, all the criminal charges were dropped. The girls are set to return to their mom. Attempting some sort of continuity, Children’s Aid has decided to wait until the end of the school year. Ainsley is deeply torn between wanting to go home, because she loves her mom, and dreading it because she knows what it will be like. There were days without food. Times when no one cared for her. And likely so much more. Since finding out she’s going home, Ainsley’s been out of control at her foster home. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I know it resulted in her seasoned foster mom wanting to drop her off with me late one night.

Ainsley pouts at the kitchen table. I begin making the bedtime snack (a special treat of s’mores). Do I want to confront her on this? No – my evening will be much more enjoyable if I just let it go. If I do confront her will Ainsley have a melt down? Probably. Will I be able to manage that? I don’t know. Is it fair to lay down the law when she’s going through so much right now? No, but life really isn’t fair.

For foster kids parenting is like a patch work quilt. There are many influences molding these kids. Shirking my responsibility in this moment isn’t doing Ainsley any favours.

“As a guest in this home, you do not go into my cupboards and take things without asking,” I begin.

She shrugs and offers an excuse. She was in the cupboard looking for something else……not sure how that ended in applying my nail polish.

“Ainsley, as a foster child you will be in lots of different houses. Do not use or take things without asking. I’m telling you this to help you. I want things to go well for you here and anywhere else you go.”

She turns away, still pouting. Generally the children I encounter don’t know how to respond. I tend to tell them, in case they’re wondering.

“You need to say, ‘I’m sorry for taking your nail polish without asking. Next time I’ll ask if I want to use something.’”

Her back remains to me. While putting chocolate and marshmallows on graham wafers, I’m bracing myself for an onslaught of rage. This spirited little girl came into foster care with a tendency to steal. I don’t know if her birth mother addressed it. Certainly Ainsley’s foster mom has.
The screaming doesn’t come. Ainsley refuses to apologize. Silently tears stream pulling mascara down her cheeks (something else I’d warned her against earlier that day. Her older sisters tend to put makeup on her. I said, “Not at my house. You’re 8yrs old!”) Tears are a completely normal response and show some remorse! After five years of interacting with extremely volatile children I have to refrain from gathering Ainsley up in a great big hug. When she finally looks at me, Ainsley appears to understand. I pass out the s’mores. Everyone’s happy. Glad I took the opportunity to speak to her. Hoping it’s truth she’ll apply. Because really, taking things out of people’s cupboards isn’t going to endear her to anyone.

*name changed

my weekend tribe at the beach earlier that day

my weekend tribe at the beach earlier that day

Baby Birds

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bird's nest

bird’s nest

three eggs

three eggs

two babies

two babies

Misinformed robins built a nest on the railing of our deck. In early spring the skeleton vines had the potential to offer shelter. However, they were annuals I hadn’t cleared away yet. I’m sure the couple regretted their location once my children began occupying the backyard. Still three eggs appeared in the nest. We watched diligently waiting for them to hatch. One Saturday morning two babies appeared in the nest. That weekend three extra children were with me. They all came into foster care before the age of 3. Two are now 13, the other 9. They’ve been well cared for.

Panic spread through my troop of children when they spotted the baby birds. One of the 13yr olds was sure the robins couldn’t care for the babies. She quickly convinced the five other children. Having been disappointed by their own birth mothers, they believed the lie that these birds would abandon the babies. Despite my reassurance, they spent the entire day placing worms in the nest. A resounding cheer went up whenever the mother robin returned to the babies.

Mother issues? Turns out years of care doesn’t cure that. These kids have been raised in foster homes where the parents have biological children. That example hasn’t penetrated the lie that biological parents abandon their children. Maybe this is how foster care ends up being a generational pattern.

Praying the cycle stops with these girls. Praying their testimony will be:

We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 124:7-8

Living with Limits

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I work for a private fostering agency providing care for special/high needs children. Usually by the time kids enter our agency they’re older and quite damaged. My greatest frustration is that most of their “special needs” are preventable conditions. A great number have diminished mental capacity from being exposed to alcohol while in the womb. This is usually coupled with extreme neglect, trauma, abuse in their early years. Add to that moving around in and out of a broken Children’s Aid system and the end result is anything but pretty.

In five years, I’ve gotten used to a lot of things but the term “acquired brain injury” still makes me cringe. (Meaning someone did something serious enough to cause a permanent brain injury.) Often the kids themselves are cognitive enough to resent the state they’re in. Mostly they try to hold it together, navigating a world beyond their understanding. As a caregiver there are times the limitations trip me up and I fall short. Like the other day when Sabrina* was putting the canopy on our gazebo. She had it all turned around – the long end of the canopy going along the short end of the frame. My clear, simple explanation of the problem when she asked for help left her completely confused. At a loss, I walked away. Twenty minutes later Sabrina joyously informed me that she figured out the problem – the canopy was on the wrong way. “I told you that,” was my response after congratulating her. “Well, I didn’t know what you were talking about.” This is the daily grind we’re accustomed to.

Last weekend my friend’s 13yr old foster child was with me. Since the last time Natalie* visited – about three weeks ago – she’s fallen in love with India. A streetwise little spitfire her passions have been dominated, thus far, by pop stars. In the three years I’ve known her, Natalie has never expressed such sincere affection for anything or anyone. Eating dinner in a Greek restaurant, she wishes to hear some Indian music. At home I put on an animated film from India that comes up in my search of Netflix. Watching her watch it my heart breaks. I’m mourning who she could have been. Without the limitations inflicted upon her by alcohol and abuse who could she have been? If things were different, would India have played a key role in Natalie’s life?

I know God is able to bring redemption to any situation. I’m still believing for these kids to be healed mentally, physically, and emotionally. In the meantime I’m grieving the loss of what God really planned for them. This pain and frustration certainly wasn’t His intention. Most of the time my thoughts fail to extend beyond, “How can I get through this day without anyone breaking down?” I don’t think about what God really wanted when He created these kids. Today I’m painfully aware of the deposit of divine design. How do I help my kids bypass their limitations in order to unearth what God’s deposited? How can I connect Natalie to India so she can catch even a portion of God’s plan for her?

*name changed

We Belong Together

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In January 2012, after nearly a year, Sloane* and Elise* saw their birth mother. She knew about the adoption plan and was granted a farewell visit. Sloane returned to me annoyed. Trying to make sense of life, she’d started calling her birth mother by her first name.

“She made me call her mom. But I didn’t want to,” the nearly four year old said. That’s what she took away from the hour they spent together.

Elise, only two and somewhat delayed, didn’t seem to understand who the woman was. But that night, putting her to bed she let out a torrent of tears. For nearly 30mins she wailed with gut wrenching grief. I held her and cried. The entire situation is heartbreaking.

A year later, the adoption was complete. The girls were mine. Sloane was beginning to grieve the loss of her birth family. At first I dismissed her requests to see her birth mother again.

“Just one more time,” she pleaded. “I need to tell her I’m adopted. She doesn’t know my name anymore. She won’t be able to find me.”

That was the whole point of a closed adoption through Children’s Aid. I’m in contact with my daughters’ maternal birth grandmother. While visiting, she let me know their birth mother was living about 20mins away instead of 800kms as she had been the entire time the kids were in foster care. Her distance had made adoption the course taken. Had she been close by, willing to work with the system, the kids likely would have gone back to her. What will my girls think of this when they’re old enough to make some sense of it? Sloane loves me but would rather be with her birth mom. I get that. The biggest surprise in adopting is the sadness. My daughters didn’t come to me because of a selfless act – a birth mother recognizing her own limitations and choosing better for her child. We’re a family because of tragic circumstances. I sincerely mean it when I tell Sloane, “I wish life could have been different for you.” I wish her mom didn’t struggle with addictions. I wish she hadn’t run away when her kids were apprehended by Children’s Aid. I wish she’d gotten clean before, as she apparently is now. It’s too late for my girls.

Sloane’s requests didn’t dissipate. In January 2013, contacted the birth mother. She and I met at a coffee shop. Her new boyfriend came along. I gave her a scrapbook of the girls since they’d come to me as foster children nearly two years ago. She cried. Graciously, the woman thanked me for loving her kids. I explained a bit about the adoption process – not being chosen and fighting to keep them (see Adoption post). This deeply moved the boyfriend. The two were rough around the edges, typical of the downtown core they live in. I explained how hard things have been for Sloane.

“I’ll do anything to help her. I want her to be happy with you,” the woman exclaimed.

“She needs to know it’s ok for her to be adopted,” I replied.

We left with hugs and another meeting set up.

I carefully dressed Sloane the morning of the visit. She and I arrived at McDonald’s quite early. Her birth mother was late. When Sloane spotted her, she ran to my side. Her tiny hands clung to me. Very outgoing, Sloane is quick to run to anyone who looks her way. I didn’t expect this reaction. My heart melted. It’s been a hard go with Sloane. Most days I wonder if I’m anywhere near her heavily guarded heart. In that moment, I finally felt like she’d chosen me as her mom – where she goes to feel safe.

Gradually inching towards her birth mother, Sloane let her know, “I’m adopted. I have a new last name and middle names.” She recited her full name.

“That’s beautiful. I really like that name,” birth mother answered.

Sloane shared pertinent information about her life including the fact that her 17yr old foster sister recently got blond highlights. Months after she came to me, Sloane said she wanted to see her birth mom, “to tell her I live with you now. And I’m always staying with you.” This is something she didn’t express in the farewell visit organized by Children’s Aid. Though I knew legally the birth mother couldn’t take the girls, I worried in seeing her I’d lose the tentative grip I have on Sloane. Hearing my daughter’s beautiful description of her life with me, the fear diminished.

“You have a really good mom,” her birth mother repeatedly assured.

“Yeah,” Sloane agreed, smiling up at me.