Sickening

I had a great day today of speaking, training, meeting folks, being with people I've known a while -- having good food and talking about how to do things better, how to improve the system, sharing stories. I love it.

But there is one story that just makes me ill ... in addition to being nearly outraged. Two years ago Bart and I inquired about a boy out here who was 15. We submitted our homestudy and were told that we had "too many kids" and that he wouldn't do well here.

You guessed it, they never found anyone else and now he is aging out. He ran away a few months ago and they aren't even looking for him.

Now, grant it, if this kid would have moved in with us two years ago, he would have had a pretty rough couple years with us. Who knows how he would have fared watching all the drama with Mike and John.

BUT, he would have a family today. He might have still run away, but we'd be looking for him and he'd have a place to come home to when he was done running. Instead, who knows what will become of him. I won't go on, but you get my frustration.

I also found out about a sibling group of 2 kids with a very parentified older brother and his younger sibling with Down's Syndrome that they may have to split because nobody will take them both. And that would be so tragic for both of them.

Every state has stories like this and every time I hear them I am compelled to do as much as is humanly possible to get kids out of the system and into homes because I am realizing that kids need parents after they are 18 maybe even MORE than they do before that.