Disposable children?
It is 5:30 p.m., and the evening
begins. Everyone is home
from work, school and daycare.
“What’s for dinner?”
my kids ask. How am I supposed
to know? I’ve been studying for Dr.
Bach’s government exam, working
on Ms. Siddiqui’s math assignment,
memorizing the reproductive system
for Ms. Khamankar’s biology
quiz and writing a history paper for
Professor Rike’s class. Can we skip
dinner tonight? No, I guess not …
and so the evening progresses.
Twenty-five diaper changes, 20
chicken nuggets, 15 bottles of formula,
9 boo-boos, 5 loads of laundry,
4 snotty noses, and a trip to the
grocery store – sound like a pretty
busy week? I’m a foster parent, and
in my home, this is just a small portion
of one typical day. I am closely
associated with a Metroplex agency:
there are quite a few like Lutheran
Social Services, the Bair
Foundation and Adoptionworks.
As a full-time student at North
Lake, life has to be carefully balanced
between home and school.
During the emotional turmoil of
accepting foster children into my
home, there are still tests to be taken,
homework to be
turned in, classes to attend
and frogs to dissect.
When one of the
nearly 600,000 children
abandoned by their
families and thrown
away with the trash is
placed in my home,
they are often dirty and physically
and emotionally bruised. Since every
child’s circumstances are different,
the best way that I can help is to
show them love and patience and to
provide them with some semblance
of structure for their disrupted and
abused life.
After the first few hectic days of
adjustment are over, our lives settle
down and the healing begins. Mandatory
doctors’ appointments are made,
visitation with the birth family is
scheduled, and the necessary paperwork
is filled out. Through it all, I am
also raising my biological daughter.
Field trip permission slips are
signed, fund-raising checks are
written, and school picture forms
are filled out. The daycare
sent home a note
asking for two dozen
cupcakes – tomorrow!
You can’t disappoint
the children, so the
oven gets heated up and
the baking begins.
Dinner is done (dishes
will have to wait until
tomorrow) and PTA forms have been
signed. I’ve checked the children’s
homework (although I still have
not finished my own), packed their
lunches and repacked their backpacks
and baby bags for the next day.
“It’s bedtime,” and for me, as I want
to be a lawyer, it is back to my books
and homework.
The best thing about today is
that I get to wake up at 5 a.m. and
see their beautiful faces smiling at
me over their cereal bowls. I can’t
think of a better way to start a day.
– Micki Stokes is a student in Dr.
Gabriel Bach’s Government class. |
