“At age 4, her vocabulary includes words that would break your heart. Her home is a revolving door of state workers, strangers, appointments. She looked up with piercing blue eyes, her hand outstretched towards me. ‘You know she wants you to take her favorite card so she’s sure you’ll come back, right?’ With tears in my eyes, I placed it safely in the front pocket of my purse. ‘I promise I’ll come back for you.'”
‘Wait! Take this!’ Little feet came running. ‘She wants you to take her favorite card so she’s sure you’ll come back.’: Young woman adopted at 26 becomes advocate for other foster children
‘What are you doing? STOP.’ An older gentleman approached me in the store. ‘You stole that baby!’: Mom adopts ‘beautiful white baby boy’ from foster care, claims ‘love is colorful!’
“‘I’m recording evidence to take to security,’ the older gentleman explained. He began photographing my son. ‘Why didn’t you let that baby stay with his kind?’ The first day that nurse handed me a 2-pound, beautiful white baby boy, I thought, ‘Is this a joke?’ Then, my motherly instincts kicked in. Not once in my mind or heart did I feel Princeton didn’t belong to me. I will ALWAYS choose him.”
‘My father sent me out for cigarettes. I decided to run away. I needed to find a place he’d never find me.’: Man rescued from abusive family, returns favor by fostering children in need
“After a year of living on the street, strangers approached me and said, ‘We want to take you to school.’ Coming from an abusive household, I had never really learned to trust. I said yes, not really sure what I was agreeing to. I had no home, hope, future, and they gave me all of that and more. I knew I wanted to do the same for other kids.”
‘Can you take a 6-month-old baby?’ I knew in my heart he was mine. I remember them being less than kind, staring at my arm. ‘What happened to you?’
“‘If my arm didn’t stop me from being a great mom to my biological child, why would it stop me from being a great foster mom?’ I was advised to give up because of my disability. I was heartbroken and had no rights.”
‘Hey, Grace. A baby girl was abandoned at the hospital. She doesn’t even have a name. Can you come pick her up in an hour?’: Couple adopt abandoned baby with special needs
“I open the fridge, over and over, to prove to children there is always food. I attend IEP meetings and I advocate for kids. But you know what else I do?”
