A GAL + A Messy Miracle
A GAL + A Messy Miracle
In February 2012, I took a case as a GAL that involved 4 young children ages 8 to 3. They were precious and my first reaction was to want to take them all home with me so that they could stay together. After reality set in, the girls (ages 3 and 8) were placed together in a wonderful foster home. The boys (ages 5 and 7) were at Grandma’s Place till an appropriate foster home could be found. The boy’s foster placement was great and even though this was the foster mother’s first case, she was amazing.
The nurturing the children received was phenomenal. They went from poor students to honor roll students and from both withdrawn and acting out to well behaved kids.
The mother was originally determined to have the children returned to her, however, many of the case plan goals (housing and income) were not attainable. I worked with the mother to help her find employment and housing, but it never seemed to work out. The mother was finally able to accept the idea that although she loved the children she was not capable of parenting them.
Just as we were going to place the children for adoption, the father (who had been out of the picture for four years) appeared and wanted custody. We went through the process of case plans just like the birth mother, however he eventually came to realize that he was unable to provide for the children. So, the children were able to be adopted.
The boys were adopted by their foster mother in March 2014, and the girls were adopted by the adult daughter of their foster mother in July 2014. The children are doing GREAT and keep in touch with each other.
