“Angels in Disguise” by Lucia G

For as long as I can remember, my household always seemed to be extremely crowded, and very loud but definitely never boring. I’m so proud to say that in my life I have been given the great blessing of having many brothers and sisters all varying of age, race, and amazing personalities. At a very early age in my life, I was given the opportunity to get to know them through the program of foster care which not only inspired me to pursue the field of social work but taught me that difficult times bring out the best in us.

My parents, whom I admire so much for this, decided to become foster parents at a very early time in their lives. The size of my household at the time, when they were working for their agency, permitted us to be able to take in up to four kids. This may, or may not, seem like a lot but added on to my sister, my brother, and I, trust me it was! Our regular weekday mornings were always a hassle having to get each other up and running and then going to two to three schools, under an hour, attempting to get there on time; this didn’t always happen. Now, our weekends, were even crazier but always really fun. They always consisted of humongous breakfasts, huge messes, and a lot of outrageous conversations. Regardless of the fact that each day seemed to get more and more hectic, each child came to have an enormous emotional impact in my life.

Out of all of the children we cared for, there were three that most definitely surpassed the rest. Raymond (5) so silly and very energetic managed to always bring a smile to my face. Despite their situation he managed to remain very optimistic and strong for his younger brother and sister. Reanne (3) aka my “hot drama mama”, as I called her, was always so sweet and being her sassy-self putting her hand on her waist and puckering her huge “Jolie” lips.  Seriously, she was like a mini model. Lastly but certainly not least, Andrew (2). He was always the baby of the family and our little football player. It was strange how close me and he got because it seemed as if I was the only one that could get him to do anything, although eating was definitely never a problem with him. Overall, they were amazing and happy kids but the difficulty of their case and of their family would at times really bring them down.

Unfortunately, bringing them into our lives didn’t only mean expecting great moments because we were made well-aware of the fact that at some point we would be forced to say goodbye. Their case was not very easy for them at all. Their social workers were constantly battling even getting their parents to show up to the court dates nonetheless their visits. Their grandparents, although very sweet people, were also not physically fit to care for them and this broke their hearts. It was through these three kid’s particular story that I was able to learn the true meaning behind becoming a foster parent. It didn’t only compose of giving them a temporary place to stay but more importantly to serve as a sort of distraction to them. We, as a family, made it our goal to give the children all the attention and the love they deserved throughout their stay. Living with them for almost two entire years, the longest case we had ever dealt with, we created many irreplaceable memories. Unfortunately, we also constantly witnessed their disappointment in their little faces caused by their parents’ carelessness. Despite how heartbreaking this was, this all changed when we were offered the unique opportunity of adopting them.

I know what you must be thinking, that we went ahead and adopted them but regrettably that was not the case. You see, at the time, we were in the process of getting a new home which we thought would be alright but it happened to come in conflict with the foster agency. They only gave us a certain amount of time to say yes and due to everything getting extremely complicated we were forced to say no for the time being. Therefore the agency went ahead and introduced the kids to other family’s attempting to adopt and we hoped that maybe we could have time to settle the house situation and that they wouldn’t get adopted too quickly, but to no avail. They were, and still are, amazing kids therefore the list of families grew very quickly. It grew so quickly that in just about a month of visits with them, an adoptive family decided on them. Yes, it was hard to see how fast they were slipping away but some part of me told me that this family, the Robinsons, were a perfect match for them! I mean the kids fell in love with them right away. The adoptive mother, a middle school teacher, wasn’t able to have children of her own, therefore the love and excitement she had to offer just radiated out of her. I knew she was perfect. And the adoptive father, well he was just a big papa bear always making them laugh; I knew he was perfect too. We knew that they were the best option for the kids, better than what we could offer even, and so we suppressed our feelings and let them go.

             I can’t deny the fact that it took me a long time to surpass this but I know it was not for granted. I understand that it was in God’s plan for us to go through this. I was able to learn that working with kids is definitely something I want to pursue. Not only that, I came to make it one of my dreams to open my own foster care agency one day. Although my time with them was cut extremely short, it helped me to understand that hardships play a large role in defining who we are and who we become.