The Third Drop-Off

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

“Is that it?”

The girl’s face remained pressed to the window.

“Yes,” the woman nodded. This was the third drop-off today and it better be less dramatic than the previous two. It was late, and she still had reports to write. 

She thumbed the folder to remind her of the names, exited the car and walked around to open the child’s door. It could not open from within. For safety. Some kids escape.

“Come,” she said. 

The child blinked, swallowed hard. “It looks nice,” she managed.

The woman’s eyes softened. “Yes. It does. I hope this foster placement works out.”

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © David Stewart

 

 

57 thoughts on “The Third Drop-Off”

    • Hi Keith, I’m so glad you did, and that you had been. It is a sacred work to do, and the children deserve the best. Even under the best of circumstances, needing to be in foster care means that a child is dealing with loss and confusion and grief and lack of control and a hope so fragile and so necessary that it shatters the heart. This doesn’t take away from the reality that foster care saves lives, often literally. It is an and/and.

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    • It can be, for sure, especially when the workers themselves aren’t seen or respected by a system that gives them too many cases (and too little support) to be able to do their jobs well and to protect their own souls from the secondary trauma of having to be part of ‘doing to’ children, even if it is in the name of trying to help them. It is often a thankless job besides. The realities care workers are faced with would erode anyone’s soul over time, if they don’t themselves get support and a healthy work environment. Some get desensitized to the point of becoming part of the harm, yes.

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    • Thank you, Clare. Children in foster care are often invisible, even to those who come in contact with them, let alone to the world and to those who make decisions about them and the resources that will be available to them, and the expectations that they ‘be grateful’ for what is being done for them, however insufficient and painful and complicated it may be.

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      • I have a novel that I’m working with an editor now, to publish end of summer, “Finding Home”. It’s about an older brother who fights to keep his younger half brothers(4) out of foster care when both parents are gone. I would love to have the evaluation of someone who knows a little about the foster care system. The story is written from older brother’s POV so isn’t just about the foster care but about him coming to terms with his upbringing and responsibility for four young kids. Let me know if you’re interested in reading a ARC copy.

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    • Indeed it is. And yet so many think in terms of ‘before/after’, as if once a child is ‘removed’ from an unsafe situation, their trauma is ‘over’ … when in fact it continues to layer up, and in many cases, becomes additionally complicated by added traumas, losses, betrayals, indifference, neglect, and grief. Foster care can be a life savior for many, but that does not make it simple or a panacea.

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  10. I used to work in Child Protective Services decades ago. As bad as abuse at home must be to have a child legally removed, foster care has its own problems, mainly because of how the system is such a bad parent (no fault of most foster parents, though).

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    • Yes, exactly! And for the most part at no direct fault of many of the CPS workers, either, who are often under-supported, over-worked, and are required to do more than they can do well, and with less than they have to do it with…. The disconnect in funding and staffing compared to the actual need, is distressing, and adds to the trauma to the children. Same is true for most foster parents, who are doing all they can for children in crisis, but aren’t given sufficient support or, at times, voice. So, yes, there is a lot to do better in! And yet, at its core, having a loving option for children whose own caregivers aren’t safe or available (or both), is an important one to have. I know children whose lives were literally saved by a foster home. Many who found a home for the first time in one.

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    • Thank you, Rochelle. As you know, I’ve come across many children in care and children at risk in my years of working with kids, and still do. There is much love for them, and there is much more we can do, as a society, to prioritize and support them and those who care for them. These children are, quite literally, our future.

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    • Yes, that’s a good descriptor! Also, they constantly have to be ‘on good behavior’ to not lose their placement and risk a worse one, or another change of school, or separation from siblings … and and and …

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    • I sure hope so, too! Thank you, Nancy. There is so much in this that people find mundane, or do not understand the wear-and-tear of, on children’s souls, even when it comes from the wish to offer care and safety.

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