I took John back to the ranch on Sunday night after he had been here for the weekend. We stopped by Diary Queen for Buster Bars for each of the guys. One of the guys that we connected with when we had a picnic there was sitting down on the couch so I “plopped” (as my husband would say) down to talk with him. The other kid that we met that same night sat down on the other side of me and we talked for a good half hour while the other guys milled around us eating buster bars and John happily and busily was taking care of the fish he had purchased.
The boys at the ranch are the personification of the kids that come across my desk each day that I am trying to find homes for. The boy to my left has been in foster care since he was 6. He is 14. He has a few ideas of where he might like to live, but he sees himself at the ranch until he is 18. The boy to my right is not legally free and never will be. He’s been in care a long time as well. He had a chance to go to a foster home, but he chose to stay at the ranch. He might get to go to public school next year, and he’s happy right where he is.
It’s hard to tell any teenager to think about the future -- they’re all invincible -- and these guys are wise enough not to hope. It’s easier just to accept living the rest of their adolescence without a family. Then, maybe when they are 18, they can go back to the only family they know, ,which is more than likely a family that is dysfunctional with a capital D.
It’s all so complicated, and yet, it doesn’t have to be. If people of passion, willing to take risks, would step up to the plate and advocate, and push and push and push, many of these stories can and will have happier endings.
No comments:
Post a Comment