Acts of Love

Sometimes it is easy to look at our foster children and get hardened against the biological parents.  We take in these children and see the effects of the abuse or neglect that they have endured and it is easy to see the bad in folks.  However, I have also seen some parents show their children small acts of love.

I had one mom write me a book on her children; their likes and dislikes, routines and such.  She snuck it in the diaper bag on their first visit.  She loved her children and wanted to make sure that they were taken care of.  She showed them an act of love.  I reciprocated and sent her updates and pictures through the diaper bag.  At some point I actually meet with her and later we would meet with her and extended family at McDonald's.  Extended family could not come to visitations but they did come to McDonald's.  They came out of love for both the biological mom and her children.  She did complete her treatment plan and got her children back.  We still talk to this day.

Today our baby received an act of love from her parents.  They took her lovey (a stuffed dog) up to DSS so that she could have it to sleep with tonight.  She is sleeping with it right now.  This always give me hope that the children will go home.  I received a call today that a great aunt should get the baby on Monday when they go to court.  A family member stepping up.....I actually don't see that too often but I think that it is great.

On the other hand, my two children Anthony and Larissa never received anything from their biological parents in three years of foster care, no extended family ever asked to see them.  Interesting how that seems to work.