Adoption is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. We adopted our beautiful 6 year old Princess when she was 4 years old. She had come to live with us just 8 months prior to finalizing her adoption, as a 3 1/2 year old foster child. We have been foster parents for over 5 years and our Princess was the 9th placement for us.
Other than an occasional weekend respite to give other foster parents a break, we have not taken another placement since Princess came to live with us.
Two days ago that all changed. We got a call from a caseworker letting us know that the state had sheltered a 3 year old girl, and she is our daughter’s biological cousin. There are no relatives to take her, and since we are the closest thing to family, we were asked to take her in. Of course we said yes. So in less than 4 hours we went from a family of 4 to a family of 5.
She told me she doesn’t like her name and wants me to call her “Castle.” Seriously, I am not making this up.
I drove to meet the caseworker and picked up this scared little girl. And then I drove home. Honestly, it took about 15 minutes.
But before we picked her up, we had to rearrange our daughter’s room to accomodate another person, another bed, another set of clothes, etc. We had to prepare our kids. We had to prepare ourselves.
After we picked her up, in the midst of trying to get to know this new little one and give her a lot of love and try to make her feel safe, I also had to go through her belongings to assess what she had and figure out what we needed to get TODAY. I had to get her a dentist appointment (she gave me a confused look when I asked if she brushes her teeth every day) and a doctor appointment to make sure she is healthy.
I sorted through 2 trash bags of stuff (yes, foster kids honestly come with their stuff in trash bags) and assessed that she was good for now in terms of clothes, but had no toothbrush, 2 pairs of panties (she was wearing one of these), and only one pair of shoes (unfortunately they are dress shoes, not appropriate for play). But lo and behold there was a brand new pack of socks! Wait, they are toddler boy socks for 18-36 month olds. Did I mention she is a girl? And she is almost 4 years old?
So off to the store we went to buy shoes, socks, panties and a toothbrush. And the adorable purple tutu that she just had to have. Yes, I’m a sucker!
James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Not everyone is called to adopt. Not everyone is called to be a foster parent. But you can support adoption and foster care in very tangible ways. Financial support. Prayer support. The gift of your time. Consider what a blessing you would be to a family by bringing them a meal when they receive a new placement. Offering to mow their lawn that weekend so they have more time to get to know one another as a family. Putting the word out and getting age-appropriate clothes, shoes, toys, gear for their new child. Offering to go to the store for them to buy missing toiletries.
And speaking of support, will you please keep our family in your prayers as we adjust to a new person and as we try and minister to this hurting little girl?? Thank you!