Hypothetical Situation - "Elizabeth"

“Elizabeth” grew up in a hard part of town (aka the “hood”) with very little resources. Normal to her was living in the “projects” and having a relationship with social services. Her community is more drug dealers and cops than farmers markets and playgrounds and gangbanging is a career choice where she is from. She was raised by her grandma and had siblings all over the place with different relatives. Her “uncle” consistently abused her growing up.

At 14 she decided to leave and slept on the couches of friends and “relatives” to get away from her life. She wanted to be free and do her own thing. She was surrounded by others who lived the same life.

By 16 she was pregnant and started her career in the social services business. Food stamps, WIC and cash aid set her up enough to survive, so that is what she did.

By 21 she had two more kids and also two abortions. Her social services took care of them for her. But she started having suicidal thoughts and severe depression. She thought it was because she must have done something wrong in her life, maybe God didn’t love her or she just wasn’t good enough to be happy or to get ahead. So she started smoking weed, drinking a little bit more and not properly taking care of her kids.

She reached out for help here and there, but felt like everywhere she went she was just a number. She is an adult so people just expected her to know and do all the right things. She thinks help is something physical she can put her hands on (money for rent or electric bill, food, fixing her car, etc). Social services taught her that from before she could walk.

Her mental illness and manic depression got worse. She had bouts of depression that left her completely unable to care for her children and eventually, they were removed from her care. The older ones were separated among some family members, but the youngest, who was just under one, went to foster care.

Elizabeth went to every court date that she knew about, unfortunately there were more that she missed. For three years she struggled to do everything on the list the courts gave her, but she failed. Nobody could understand why. They told her everything she had to do. But she was unable to do it, to stay consistent. She didn’t understand why they were keeping her from her child, she was doing the best she could.

Elizabeth lost her parental rights to her youngest child and she is still in the same spot she was when she was 14. Emotionally and physically wounded and childless. If her story goes as most all of them do, then Elizabeth will stay in her social services career. She will most likely have more children and even more abortions. She will be abused by drug dealers and gang members and the chances of her believing that there is something different out there or that she is even worth saving are slim to none. She may end up in jail or she may take her own life, most likely with a gunshot wound to her head or heart.

Our system is BROKEN.

What Elizabeth needs is an advocate, someone who she can trust, who will be there every step of the way to give her unconditional love and support, even when she makes the wrong decisions. What Elizabeth needs is a foster FAMILY who will help take care of her child while advocating for her and helping her recover from her life wounds.

Not a foster to adopt but a FOSTER to REUNITE.
Our foster system is BROKEN. It needs renovation.

We need advocates, not more caseworkers.
We need missionaries, not more social workers.
We need relationships, not more protocols.

We need to ask ourselves and be ready to answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
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#sofesa #homelesslife #parentalrights #fostertoreunite

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