Our First Foster Child

Our first placement with a child happened the end of November 2007. I was hanging Christmas decorations when I got the call. I was overcome with excitement, anxiety, you name it, I felt it!   Hannah was 18 months old. I dropped Little Big Man off with a friend and went to get her 15 minutes later. I met the 2 caseworkers in the parking lot of a convenience store. I showed them my I.D., and they handed Hannah and her bag of belongings over to me. She was scared. She clung to the caseworker. When I got her home, she had a blank look on her face. She didn’t cry, but looked very confused and very wary of us. When Big Daddy and the boys got home, she seemed to come out of her shell a bit. She laughed and played with the boys and ran circles around the room. We were all so excited. I couldn’t believe we finally had a little girl in our home. That night, she wouldn’t sleep. She was in a crib beside our bed. Big Daddy was working the night shift, so I put Hannah in bed with me. She immediately fell asleep. I remember thinking she must’ve slept with her mom, who was a single parent. I was exhausted the next day. I was awake all night watching Hannah, making sure she was okay. At 3pm that day, the caseworker called. They had a hearing for Hannah that morning, and I was to return her to her father immediately. I was a bit shocked that it happened so quickly, but I felt that God knows what child belongs in our family, and that he had other plans for Hannah. I gathered her things, and met her father and grandmother in the same parking lot where I had picked her up. Dad was young, but seemed genuinely happy to see his daughter. He did not live with the mother, so he would have full custody. He and Grandma thanked me again and again for taking care of her. I said good-bye and returned home, hopeful that I would receive another call soon.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Over 3 months had passed and not a single call. I would tell Big Daddy every night that “Tonight is the night we’re getting a call-I just know it!” But after 3 months, even I was beginning to think we would never get that call. We prayed and asked God to send us the child or children whom he wanted us to raise as our own. Even though we had decided that we only wanted girls, I felt an overwhelming urge to open our hearts to a brother/sister if they needed a home. We let the agency know this and about a week later, we got a call!