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I am a 24yo single male with residency in Michigan. I attend a very good university in California as an undergraduate entering my senior year (was in school in Michigan and took a few years off before transferring). I am pretty devoted to the foster care system ever since beginning an internship at a residential facility in 2016. I've continued work at this facility ever since, and am an aspiring professional. I've recently been looking at PhD programs in Clinical Psychology.
One child I met in my time at the facility, I could write a book on, but I will try to keep it short. I met him when he was 12, and he is now 14yo. His parents' rights were both terminated for abuse/neglect in 2017, and he remains in Michigan's foster care system. I remained a supportive professional on the case when he left as I was one of the few staff members he successfully worked with. Every step of the way, he has been twisted and turned by the system (before, during, and after the agency I worked with). He was (unsubstantiated) physically abused by the next facility he went to, and truanted. He was AWOL for 9 months. Upon his being picked up, they placed him back at the same facility (?!?!?!), and then pressed charges on him as an adult for something that occurred while he was AWOL. Despite (miraculously) doing extremely well in round two at the facility, they moved to remove him immediately after a very shady incident (more details could be shared via PM) and he is now in a juvenile prison awaiting trial. As I mentioned, I've stayed with him and his case to as much a degree as possible with me being in California for the majority of the year (in Michigan for summers).
The way I look at it now, he is toast if he stays in the system. He has never been placed in a foster home, he has been removed from two facilities, and he will likely have a juvenile criminal record following this case. But he CAN succeed. I've seen it, and to be frank, I love the kid.
When I graduate in June, at 25, with him 15, would it be possible for me to foster, or foster-to-adopt him? There is no guarantee it would work, there couldn't be given his immense trauma history. But if it could work with anyone for him to live a normal life, at this point, I feel like it's with me. He has told me the same, and has done everything short of asking me to adopt him. And at this point, I'm willing to sacrifice a few years off of my professional life to see him into a semblance of a normal life.
Do you think this would be something that would be possible? And what advice would you have for me? Obviously I know that this question isn't determined by an online forum, but this seems like an appropriate place for advice, thoughts, and maybe similar situations to come out. Additionally, I want to be prepared if the day comes that I am talking to a caseworker about this possibility.
Thank you all for all you do for children!
Last update on September 15, 6:36 pm by Michael Perry.