Changing The World One Child At A Time

Well, so much for niche blogging. I can't seem to stick to just one or two topics. Here, I make no exception as I write about Diane Sawyer's Primetime special about foster children. I knew it would be emotional for me. You see, I'm an adoptive mother. I didn't give birth to my children, but I am still their mom. They came to be because their own mothers couldn't care for them and I wanted children of my own, but couldn't conceive. Wanting to much to be a mother, it's hard for someone like me to watch how other parents screwed up so badly that their children had to be removed from the home. One girl was so badly abused and neglected, she was forced to eat from the raw carcass of a deer found by the side of the road to keep from starving to death. She was so dirty, cockroaches had to be surgically removed from her ear. The worst of it though was that she was continuously sexually abused. Later, she was adopted by loving parents who had to place her in a group home for abused girls (the same home where Marilyn Monroe lived many years earlier when she was just known as Norma Jean. If Marilyn were still alive she would have celebrated her 80th birthday this week!) This young girl was acting out at home with younger children and could no longer live with her family. All because her biological mother was too strung out on drugs to care about what happened to any of her children (a fact which she denies until this day). Another little boy was found being raised by the family dog because mom was always out trying to score her next high. The toddler was so accustomed to being around the dog that he tried to eat and drink off the floor and panted like a dog. Thankfully, his foster parents, with lots of love and patience, were able to completely turn things around for him because he was young enough. Older children in the foser care system are not so lucky. My point is that there are lots of kids out there waiting for one person who will always be there for them for the rest of their lives. Being forced to move from home to home is not less traumatic than being forced to live in a war zone. If you are reading this post and think you can't help, then think again. If you don't want to foster a child, but think there's a better way to change the system, then write to your local congress representative. If you want more information about foster and/or adoption services in your state, then check out this website at http://adoption.about.com/od/bystate/. You can make the difference! You can change the world one child at a time.....just like I did!