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Thank you in advance for any help/advice that can be given. Our current fosters/"bonus kids" (7-boy and 2-girl) have been with us for 6 months. Reunification is already looking to not be an option. The children have been homeless themselves for 1-2 years living in a car. The parents drove their car from another state until they ended up in the town over, parked and called it quits. The children were in care within a week. Domestic violence, meth addiction, bipolar diagnosis, mental health issues, warrants on both of them, choosing to move from shelter to shelter-as the only means of "working", negating visitations... Lawyers, judges and DHS have already asked us about adopting these beautiful souls. The answer was an easy yes. We have older children, some of which are adopted. We are not newbies or wearing rose colored glasses. We know the system, how it works and have been neck deep for years.
My concern...the parents (who have restraining orders against each other) have moved into our town. They are not together, but they are both here. We took the kids to breakfast the other morning, only to leave the restaurant and run into their mother drugged up on the steps. We grabbed the kids, came up with a lame excuse and ran back in until we could form a plan to leave. I pulled up to a light, looked over and saw their father pan handling. They are everywhere.
What do we do? How do we deal with this? I hate living on high alert in a town I have called home for years. How do we specifically talk to the boy, when he grows up in this town, only to see his parents drugged up...pan handling...laying on park benches? We have given great thought to this. But I would like to hear from others. From those of you willing to share your perspective on this situation. Thank you again. -S