Here we go...

So this is my second time around as a Foster Parent and it's a whole new ball game! The first time around was in 2007 & 2008 and my then partner and I had a 7 year old foster daughter. The attachment, and love we felt for her astounded me. She was seven going on twenty, and had a life no one should have to live. "The System" was defintely flawed, but we had constant support from our Case Manager that we were placed with through our Foster Agency. She left our home after about seven months, and I swore off foster care, at least for the time being. That was my first real taste of a system that still makes me shake my head and wonder how it is that Foster Care reform still has not happened. These children have more people "representing" them than a celebrity does, yet nothing seems to really happen, and if it does, it moves
v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. There's case managers, lawyers, social workers, social worker aides, and the list goes on, yet everyone seems to know something different. The lines of communication are crossed all over the place!

However, early this summer my partner and I decided to take the plunge into the turbulent waters of fostering, even though there is a magnet on our fridge that clearly states, "Stop me before I volunteer again." On July 21st we were placed with a six week old baby girl, who shall be referred to as Bee, hence forth. She is now 9 weeks old and altough we have repeated the mantra that someone from our agency told us helped her cope with the "going home" part of foster care, "She's Going Home, She's Going Home," so that when she does go home it won't be such a blow, has not worked worth a diddly. That baby has us wrapped around her little, adorable finger and she has us, hook, line, and sinker.

We have told ourselves that of course, we want her bio parents to get their acts together, I mean what kind of people would be if we didn't want to see them pull themselves up out of the trenches? We'd be normal people, that's who. No matter how detached or objective you try to be, all bets are off once that little angelic face looks up at you and smiles. Once you have been the one catering to the 1am, 3am, and 5am feedings, nightly. You will tell yourself, what kind of person could willingly turn this precious child over to CPS so that she could remain living with her boyfriend? What kind of person has five children by her mid-twenties and is heard saying "I'm just going to keep having children because the State pays for them," after baby number one? People all over the world, everyday, that's who. But we try to remain positive and enjoy the next guaranteed five months we have with her, and we know in our hearts that what is meant to be will bee, er, be.