Sister's Kids
Hey Folks,
We have the kids yay! We went to a meeting with DCS and my sister and her boyfriend on Thursday and they voluntarily surrendered parental rights. We have what is essentially foster care of the children until the adjudication hearing at the end of the month, and then we have to do fostering for six months before we can finalize the adoption. Eleven hours of driving with three kids under the age of six was quite the adventure.
Unfortunately the situation that they came from was much more dire than what we had been told. The DCS worker felt that we needed to know the whole story complete with pictures of what the kids looked like when they took custody five months ago. I took my 18 yr old niece with me for this trip, and she almost fainted when we saw the pictures. It really affected her badly. The children were covered in bruises, and the two oldest boys ages 5 and 1.5 at that point were thin to the point of skeleton like. The youngest, who was 7 months old at the time had a thumb sized lesion on his head that was badly infected. I am appalled and saddened that we had no idea of what these kids were going through. Living so far away we just depended on Sis's phone calls etc. I am so happy that we have the kids now, and just pray that we can get them through this whole and happy. Apparently while Sis and her BF were high they also were promiscuous in front of the children, and the six year old talks about it. Sis is in a rehab program offered at the jail, but her BF states that although he has used meth since he was 14(!) he isn't addicted, and doesn't need a treatment program.
We've got a long road ahead of us, but I know that I can mother these boys, and love them more than what they've been loved.