“A text comes to me about 11:24. It reads, ‘Are you at work? Can you call me?’ Abigail’s mother no longer wanted to be around me. I was a reminder of our trauma. It was devastating because now I feel completely erased from her life as if nothing ever happened. I constantly dream of the family that almost was.”
‘Today is the day I get to meet Abigail!’ I’m excited! Her tone is bleak, she begins to cry. ‘Abigail didn’t make it.’: Father’s anguish over losing child, ‘drifting apart’ from daughter’s mother after ‘trauma’
‘We received a call that a sibling set of 4 kids needed a foster home. Our initial reaction was ‘Four kids at one time!?’’
“That’s when the lady broke heart-wrenching news to my wife.”
‘I didn’t have a job or a house. My son was put in foster care. I lost everything because of alcohol.’: Father beats addiction after hitting ‘rock bottom,’ celebrates 3 years of sobriety
“I relapsed and spiraled downhill very fast. I stopped going to my drug and alcohol counselor. I started cancelling visits with my son because I was ‘sick’. I felt so hopeless and unworthy as a parent and human being. Then, my case manager showed up and reminded me I was in it for my son. I literally broke down and cried. I told her to leave, and she refused. ‘I will be with you for anything you need.’ She reassured me I had the potential to do this.”
‘Can you pick him up right now?’ He was 2 months old with severe medical needs and no home. I had no idea what I was in for, but I was all in.’: Birth mother and foster mom ‘build lifelong friendship’
“The nurses warned me: ‘He’s not very interactive.’ He hadn’t smiled or cooed in the whole week he’d been there. ‘Hello, baby boy,’ I said. He immediately broke into a huge grin. Five days later, his mother pulled me into her arms. ‘I have been praying he would be safe and loved.’ This little boy brought us all together.”
