Ready to Share

AFTER I MET WITH my young client and her siblings, I needed some time to process the experience. I think I am ready to share tonight.

I arrived at the foster home where they have been placed, a gorgeous house which was newly built and filled with amenities that many people can only dream of having. The furniture was new and the carpet plush. A large flat-screened TV filled an entire wall and everything was spotless. The house was appropriately appointed for housing children. The foster parents are both professionals who have biological children, as well.

The foster kids are flourishing. Each child has put on weight, when just over a month ago they were malnourished and underweight. They were happily chattering and playing. My client, the oldest of the children, was so excited about school (she had previously been "home-schooled" by her biological parents). She is academically behind in classes, and I feel certain if she could catch up by means of her spirit of willingness alone, she would already be there. So proud of her spelling test was she; it didn't matter that her score was less than 50 percent. She doesn't understand the concept of school yet.

These kids never left the house when they were being held captive by their parents. Neighbors who were interviewed by investigators said they didn't even know there were children in the home. When the house had been investigated, there were no beds, clothing nor ample food for the children. They all spent most of their waking lives in diapers and they slept on the floor or in closets.

What must it be like for them now? How different it must seem to these young children who were robbed of the basic necessities -- now that they have every need met.

I may never know what they are feeling right now. And that is okay.

All I need is to witness the healthiness of their bodies and the pure joy in their speech and play to know that there is a God, and miracles happen.

~Ms. T. J.