Twelve years ago, when my son Caiseem was 5, he came home from foster care, where he had been since birth. Caiseem is the youngest of my four children. I’ve always felt a strong connection with each one of my children, but with Caiseem, something was missing.
Pieces Missing
While he was in care, I would visit Caiseem at the agency, and during those visits I could feel that something wasn’t right. I felt … Read More
Translated from Spanish
When I was six years old, the same age that my daughter is now, my mother left me with my grandmother. Nearly every evening I would peek out in the street to see if my mother had arrived. But six years passed and she didn’t come back. I missed her so much.
Even though my grandmother was attentive to my needs, it wasn’t easy. When I wanted to share something … Read More
In July, Nebraska instituted a “safe haven” law that allows parents to leave a child at a hospital without fear of prosecution. The law was intended to allow parents to safely abandon infants they could not take care of, and many states have similar laws. However, the Nebraska law did not specify that it applied only to babies, and in September and October, as many as 25 parents dropped off older children at hospitals, saying … Read More
Translated from Spanish
When I was growing up in Mexico, my mother always paid attention to my education. She worked in a store that we had in the house. If we had a problem in the school, my mother simply closed the store without regard to whether she would lose money and went to the school to talk with our teacher.
My mother never said to us, “I had to close … Read More
As a parent who has had children in foster care, the word “testifying”usually brings to my mind fearful situations where one’s future is in the hands of some powerful person, usually a judge. But when I was asked to testify in front of the United States Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families about my experiences getting help through Parents Anonymous, I was quick to respond with a resounding “Yes!” I wanted to tell … Read More
