Our Second Foster Placement

We were in the midst of transitioning JayJay out of our home (to live with her Bio mom) when we received the call which turned out to be our next placement. We were told she was a healthy six month old girl. She was living with her Bio Aunt (and her half brother) who wanted to find her a good home. Three days later the Aunt (Half Brother)  and the Social Worker drove up to our house and dropped her off.

That was a very emotional moment. I was already dealing with the grief of losing our first placement. I was highly sensitive, you just looked at me wrong and I broke into sobs. So here was a woman who obviously loved this baby and had been caring for this little one, realizing that in the best interest of this child she needed to find a "final" home for her. I think I sobbed the entire time they were here. This baby was so amazingly beautiful, and maybe the chubbiest thing I had ever seen.

She had the opportunity to live with JayJay for one week, and then JayJay left our home. The day JayJay left our home I fell apart, even though I had another living being I was responsible for I couldn't do it. It was a good thing I am married to an amazing man, because he stepped up and took care of this baby for a day or so until I could pull myself together.

She was a pretty healthy baby, the only challenge she had at the time was breathing difficulties. She needed four breathing treatments daily, via a nebulizer. It took about a month to get her completely off the nebulizer. We did not know much about her medical background when she came to us. It was not until later that we discovered that she had heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

We were told pretty soon after she came to us, that it looked like mom was going to relinquish her brother, and that she would probably relinquish this one as well. The one thing you learn quickly as a foster parent is to not hold your breath. The first two months her bio mom stayed very involved, 2 visits a week as well as a parenting class that this little one had to attend. I was starting to get nervous once again. I wasn't sure I was cut out for this Foster Parent role. Around the three month marker things started to unravel. Over the course of the month her bio mom became less and less active. By August she had completely disappeared. I was very angry with her at that point, because she had left this beautiful baby stranded in the Foster Care System. Thank goodness the Biological Aunt stepped in... She took it upon herself and arranged a 'drive by appointment' with the social worker. The plan was for the Social Worker to have all of the relinquishment paperwork ready (and in her hands) for the Bio mom to sign. The Aunt (who was aware of the location of the Bio Mom) would pick up Bio Mom and drive her to DSHS where the social worker would be waiting in the parking lot. All they had to do was roll the window down and get her to sign. I could not have been more shocked that afternoon when I got the news that it worked. She relinquished... By September we had a legally free baby!

This was not a normal case. It is not common for a child to enter your home and be legally free that quick, five months is very quick. By the time we finished all of our adoption paperwork it was October. We decided to wait until December to have the official adoption.

As you can see JayJay was able to attend her sisters adoption. Pretty cool! LeiLei looks eager to get this finalized, she is even raising her right hand like mom and dad. Three years ago (almost to the date) she became our daughter, an amazing time for us.