nyny

growing family

Over the past few months, I’ve learned quite a bit about the state of Florida’s foster care system. My sister and brother-in-law started the process of becoming foster parents last fall. Ideally they would like to adopt the child that is placed in their care. This happens if the parent(s) either voluntarily give up rights, or by default if they fail to complete each part of the judge’s prescribed plan in one year (things like: hold a steady job for 8 months, attend 4 months of parenting/budgeting classes, live in the same apartment for 6 months, etc.) So far they have had three foster babies. The first was Elijah, and they only had him for 2 days. Then there was Monty, who they had for a little less than 2 months. Now they have a little boy named Christian.

It’s such a weird, strange set of emotions that come with this whole experience. It’s such a tall order to really commit to and love these children, all the while knowing that you likely will have to give them up. It also must be borne in mind that, if that happens, the program was a success. The foster care system is set up so that children can be responsibly cared for while their parent or other family member becomes a fit guardian. At its core, the goal of the system is to reunite children with their natural families. Sarah and Mike have really embarked on a tough journey, and I’m proud of them for that… and a little in awe too.

Christian was born Wednesday, June 11, so he’ll be two weeks old tomorrow. On Saturday, June 14, Sarah and Mike got a call to pick him up from the hospital. They brought him home that day, and they’ve been the only parents he’s known. I guess he has some older siblings who have all been adopted out of foster care, so Christian was taken away immediately as a preventative measure. From what I understand, his mom hasn’t shown any interest in working with the State thus far. That’s a good sign, because if the parent shows no effort, the judge will sometimes let the child be adopted before the one year period passes. Here’s hoping.

I’ve included a couple of pictures of him, because, like all babies, he’s just adorable :)

posted by becka @ 2:28 PM