Time to Step Up!

During our training today our case worker told us of a story of a nine year old girl who was in the foster care system, and while in care, her biological mom died in a fire (she was running a meth lab in her home). The case worker took the girl to the funeral, where there was a chapel FULL of relatives there who were mourning the loss of the girl's mom. Can you imagine having a large "family" like that but still no one is willing to take you in - talk about rejection. First by her mom who neglected her child which caused her removal in the first place, then by family not willing to step up. Some even had the nerve to ask the girl for her contact information so they could "keep in touch". (the girl ended up "aging out" of the system when she turned 18)

The segment we were studying was on Separation, Loss & Grief. One thing I've heard over and over is no matter what a child has been through, they almost NEVER speak about their parents in a negative way and will defend them no matter what. Regardless of the circumstances, removal from their home is a tramatic experience for most kids.

I'm struggling right now with judging people who would do this to a child, but that's another fight. Our fight right now is to help save some of these kids.