Perspective

Last night's class, like last week's, really started to give some perspective as to what to expect and what every member of the family is going to be going through--birth parents, the child, the case worker, the foster families. What a truly amazing thing to think about a child being torn from their home. In the scenerio we played out last night, the birth parents had lost their jobs, and in a moment of stress made a very bad decision which led to their child being removed from their home. I think it is so easy to think about these birthparents as monsters who are killing their children, but this exercise helped to point out how these parents could be good people who made a bad choice and it is spiraling into a nightmare around them.

In the scenerio, a child that was placed in the foster home had experienced abuse which was being acted out with the other children of the home. This is really something dear to my heart. The one part of this journey that gives me the most pause is the protection of the children I already have. It really has been what has delayed our steps forward up to this point. I think in ways my fears about putting my now children in danger were both revisited and calmed in last night's class. The reality is that if our child to be has been abused, the chances are great they will exhibit behaviors as a result of that abuse. BUT there will be plenty of services and help in getting each child counseling, therapy, and treatment to help that child heal and overcome such abuse.

I again realize what a precious bubble of naivete I live in and am continually thankful for the lack of knowledge of such things. But the reality is that bad things are happening all around us, to the children all around us.