Five years ago, my sister told me that the Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles was having a meeting for parents who had been through the system and reunified with their children. I was thinking, “What do they want from us?” But my sister and I went together.
The social workers asked us, ”What did you go through? Can you tell us how you felt?” My children were in … Read More
About 10 years ago, I was going through a bad time in my marriage. One night when my husband abused me, I called the police and theytook my children and me to the hospital for an examination.
Child protective services (CPS) did a quick assessment and decided to take my three children. They never let me take my kids home from the hospital or even say goodbye. I was lost.
If … Read More
My husband and I have three children, ages 12, 8 and 17 months. Our oldest has deafness and ADHD, our middle child has blindness andADHD with severe behavioral problems, and our toddler has asthma, is developmentally delayed and has had liver transplants.
Last October, CPS came to our home late at night, claiming that our middle child was coming to school in dirty clothes. It’s true that he has favorite clothing that he … Read More
Six years ago was the first time that I didn’t have to rush through the holidays with my daughter, who I call Little Mama. After three years in foster care, she was finally home to stay.
Holidays when Little Mama was in foster care were rough. The first year, when Little
Mama was 1 year old, the agency invited my husband and me to a Christmas party. At one moment I had to … Read More
I am a 35-year-old mother of two girls, 14 and 10 years old, who have
been paroled to my parents’ care since September 22, 2009. I can visit my children as often as I like but I am no longer allowed to lie down beside them at night and sink into a world of pure innocence, or rise up with them in the morning to feel the warmth of the glowing … Read More
