Poker face...

For our “lesson” today I decided to teach my kiddos poker! They are 9,6,and 5 and all have varying issues that make comprehension and retaining information more difficult. However it was fun and my little one got a little ruthless! Poker was always very important in my family. My grandpa was truly the center of our family and he LOVED poker. All nine of his grandkids learned at a young age and it was a major part of all family get-togethers and it was serious, real money was involved! My grandpa died sadly and too soon shortly after I started my fostering journey. He was crotchety and old school. He would make brash statements that would sometimes embarrass me and came from an old school way of thinking when it came to mixed race relationships. He lived long enough to meet my youngest adopted son (who was the first of my three placed with me) He made some smart alec comment about my baby’s beautiful bushy afro but then later when it was just me and him he told me how proud he was of me and how cute my kid was. Today when I was teaching them to play poker I thought my grandpa’s biggest complaint wouldn’t be about their race, or their special needs, it would be that I waited this long to teach them! Love you grandpa.

quick catch up...

I enjoy writing on here, even if no one ever reads it. I like to read others blog and feel the similarities and challenge myself when I feel that others have a better way than I do. I also, being a single mom, enjoy sharing my childrens life. It has been so long since I blogged last or even connected to my fostercare/adoption people. We have had many short term placements come and go, we have had upheavels in our support system, and we have had many many ups and downs. Most importantly we also had our adoption! My dear children had to wait four and a half years for permancy, four and a half years! They are MINE now, all mine! I love every ounce of them no matter how much they push me away. The adoption did cause some regression, but that was expected. We also had a med change that led to an extreme psychotic reaction, which sadly led to a hospitilization. If you have never had to do that be thankful, if you have you know it is increadibly hard. I would never have done it if my child wasn't an danger to herself and others. When my eight year old gave me a detailed plan of how she planed on ending our entire family's lives, I had no other choice. Then to try to parent your child when they are away from home is amazingly hard. The staff felt they knew my child more than I do. my daughter gets aggressive, super aggressive when she feels unsafe. So obviously when she is away from home in a new environment she felt very unsafe and became aggressive. I told them this would happen. I only wanted her there long enough to detox from the med that gave her the reaction, the aggression I can handle. They told me that they couldn't release her until she was safe for 72 hours in a row! HA! Then they told me that the female staff couldn't handle her so the placed her with a male one on one aid. Really!? Um... could someone look back into her files... um PTSD- triggers 1. men (specifically black men)!!!! The CEO of that place knows my name now and I had my baby back on Monday morning. She has had no more suicidal/homicidal ideations since the med change. My point is I advocate for these children in my sleep, seriously! Somedays when I am up against a RAD/FASD wall advocating for the world to change is all I can do.

Happy birthday D!

Today was my nephew's fifth birthday party. I love him so much, he is such a little stinker. He is my sister's bio child and her one with "special" needs. He is a genius, truly. She began wondering if he was autistic, and had him go through several screenings and it turns out his IQ is just extremely high. He just turned five and can read and write anything and can figure out complex math problems. He is behind socially and has a lot of quirks that can make other kids and parents uncomfortable. I hate to say it, but it is nice that she has him, because it can give me someone to talk to. THe issues are so different, but to have a special needs child puts you in a different place as a parent.

On a negative note, my mom was there and decided to criticize my parenting in front of my 8yo daughter who was having an "evil" moment! She is having a hard time understanding that getting mad at somebody doesn't mean that you hate them. She also needs to learn to stop blaming me for everything and feeling so bad for herself, but she'll get there. She did end up turning herself around though and had a good time though she tried to milk my mom to get out of the situation.

It can be hard to love her...

My oldest child is eight. She came to me at four after living through hell. She had been neglected and abused most of her small life her mom had many men in and out of her life some of whom she let do whatever they wanted to her kids as long as they still supported her. Then my daughters older sibling decided to go to the police because she couldn't stand being raped one more time.
When bio mom found out, she uprooted her four children and drug them all the way here to my town 3 hours away and moved in with her brother and his paramour. Her brother abused her, when she was a child, he was also into heavier drugs than she was. She is a drinker, she drinks her way out of any stressful situation. Well down here my child felt a new kind of life, one of constant beating and starvation.
The Uncle and his girlfriend were out of their minds. They beat my daughter and my son (the least favored two) with a vengeance. When she came to me she had over 27 cigaret burns on her body and too many to count belt marks on her legs, she also had rope marks around her wrists and ankles. (Her brother was worse.) She came into care the day after a severe beating. Her brother was left for dead, and would have died if not for the ten year old sister. (Mom was passed out.)

The mom only brought her son into the hospital because she was mad that the girlfriend stole a pack of her cigarettes and wanted to get her into trouble.

My daughter looked like a child on one of the "feed the children" ads. She was skin and bones with a bloated belly caused by starvation. She had a vocabulary of a one year old, but knew how to tie her shoes, because her uncle beat her if they weren't tied. SHe didn't know how to eat with silverware or understand why she had her own bed. Se didn't want to change her clothes because it was the only outfit she had. She had two emotions, absent and rage. There was no child there.

I am writing this now because I need to remember this. I need to think about this every day. Especially now. She was doing great. so you forget about this sometimes and begin to expect her to meet up to your expectations. Then last fall we had an awful scare and the state almost removed her from me, all because of a misunderstanding. Her workers were all fighting for us. Then my daughter began a steady spiral down and I forgot about her past, I just remembered about how good she had been doing. I fought for her to be back, without realizing how far she still was from where she came. We also have all of this paperwork issues that have postponed the adoption for over a year now, trying to get it all settled. She needs that adoption.

Today she acted like a selfish little stubborn eight year old. Nothing extreme, or "bad" even, just pushing my buttons. I over reacted. I want my daughter from last summer back, and the last few weeks she had been doing so good again that her attitude today made me lose some needed hope. I asked her "Don't you care about me?" and she didn't respond. It wasn't a fair question especially when emotions were charged, but I took it hard that she couldn't just say yes. WHy doesn't she say she loves me when emotions are hard? I know why and I just wrote why, but sometimes in the moment it is hard for me too. I will need to do some damage control after today, but this felt good finally putting her suffering into words, it will help imprint them into my brain so when I start feeling disappointed I can remember where she came from.

When it starts to feel hard to love her, I can remember why she needs it more.

All the story...

My youngest, my butter bean has been so off this last week, I know that him trying to make some sense out of this crazy world is whats getting to him. How is he to understand that he has siblings and that they are his baby brothers and sisters, yet he will never know them like that and they will be raised by someone else. This stuff is confusing to me as an adult, it makes my brain and my heart hurt. How else would a four year old react except to be a stinkpot and a clingy little man who decides that sleep is unnecessary. I hope that he starts healing this week.

It does bring up the point that some people have told me; to wait and tell him when he gets older. No matter how hard it is for him right know, I believe this is the best thing I can do. I do not believe in lying to my kids when it comes to their personal stories. I think that they have every right to know who they are. This might mean some hard truths now, but this way they will just be facts to him not some bomb drop at a more appropriate age. My family is a big family of secret holders. Since I was close to my mom and grandma I was privy to most of these secrets. I know things about my family, who I am really close to that I wish I didn't know. I hate the burden of that. The most shocking secret came to me the year before I started fostering. I found that I wasn't wrong in my suspicions that my mom was keeping something from me, that their was something weird about the fact that my mom never knew dates to things. I just didn't know that it wasn't going to be about me but a sibling. I now know this secret and my sibling doesn't. How can that be fair??? My sibling would be destroyed by this information and it isn't my place to say. I just know that the holding of secrets like this, that are internal parts to a persons life, is burning; I refused to have this barrier between me and my children. So yes this will not be the last time, and there will be very hard questions to come in the future, especially when they start asking about fathers, but I will be a age appropriately (meaning a 5 yo doesn't understand what drug abuse is) honest, while remaining supportive and positive that they are not defined only by where they came from.

Learning to Juggle

I always wanted to learn how to juggle.

Seriously as a kid they did a weekend juggling lesson at the YWCA and I begged my mom to let me go. We were broke, something I didn't understand then, but instead of being honest with me and telling me that we couldn't afford it my mom was prideful so she told me that I would never learn how to juggle, that I wasn't coordinated enough. This was my moms way of deflecting the real reasons to keep her pride in check, but she was such a loving mom in everything else why shouldn't I believe her?
I wanted to join Girl Scouts, she told me that she asked around and none of the groups wanted me. I wanted to play an instrument in band, she told me I couldn't find a beat and I would give up after a day any way and it wasn't worth the investment. I stopped asking for things. I realized that I couldn't see the board in fifth grade, I didn't get glasses until I was a junior in high school because I refused to ask for them, but I failed my eye screen in drivers ed. My Senior year in HS I got nominated for a leadership award, part of this award was a weekend trip to meet the other winners and go to leadership seminars. My mom told me not to go, that she loved me but that if I were to go the other kids wouldn't like me and they would make fun of me because I was fat. When it was time to go to college, I applied to a college four hours away. My mom made me fear it and almost made me quit with all of her negative speech. My moms hold on me led to a lot of my decisions. I was convinced she was right, I must not be worth much, I cannot accomplish much, I am really nowhere as good as my sister.

When I knew I wanted to be a foster parent, I did it all with out letting my mom know, she didn't find out until the weekend before I was licensed. I couldn't bear her negative look on it and have her be able to talk me down before starting. She was negative, told me she thought I made a stupid decision, and probably ruined the rest of my life. She came around to the kids. In the time I was fostering my sister had a son. I love my nephew so much, he is fantastic. My AS was born in the same year and came to me 9months after my nephew was born. My mom said its not the same and one day I would understand. Two years later I found out that I was going to adopt my baby and she told me to really think about it. A month before his adoption, I told my mom that I could no longer bear her negativity, my self worth could not be based on all of her fears and insecurities. I told her I was capable, and I told her that if she couldn't muster up enough love for me and my son to respect what this meant then she could leave. She slapped me in my face. However, she did come to my sons adoption and loves him in her way. My mom will always look at everything I do through a negative scope and try to get me to a dark place, but now I am strong enough to know when to hang up the phone.

This whole thought came to me because while I might parent differently and understand my children's strengths and weaknesses, I will never define them for them. I will never tell them they cannot do things. I do not hold the answer to that. Instead I will give them baby steps and directions to succeed. I will always believe with them even if it is hard to.

In other words, I finally learned how to juggle!

Roller coaster??? more like a tilt a whirl!

I had the most emotional filled week last week ever, seriously ever. My youngest, my baby, is only four. I found his mom on a social networking site about a year and a half ago. From this I found out that she had baby twins. They were in another state. I kept track and for awhile they seemed like they were in her care, as soon as I assumed they weren't in her care I started trying to find them. She listed three different states so I had no clue where to look. Shortly after, she said she was pregnant again. So I watched her through this pregnancy, and I was scared for the baby. She had a baby girl less than a year after the twins were born. Since the girl was born she has listed two states and multiple cities. I finally pinned her down in december and could tell her children were in states custody. Since december I have been calling that state trying to get her worker. I wasn't sure why, I just felt so much love for these kids, they are a part of my AS. I felt that they were my family.

On Tuesday of last week I got ahold of the worker. She told me that all three of the kids have a genetic disorder. Passed to them from their mother who also has it. My AS is very likely to have it, but a lot of people go misdiagnosed. His siblings only got diagnosed because one of the twins was born with a degenerative heart disorder. I have began research, and I think my son probably has it as well, and the good thing is it is not terminal, the bad thing is is that it has a high rate of psychosis.

So, reeling from all of that information the worker then asks me if I will consider placement, in the same breath she mentions that the sick twin was on his way to have open heart surgery. I was stuck. I loved these children already, but have three kids of my own all with some form of special needs and I am a single mom. I believe in keeping siblings together, but wouldn't I neglect the other five kids for the one very sick one?? Our phone call got disconnected before I could ask her about these children's foster placement. The next day we talked again. I got the foster parents information, but before I could call I had to make sure that I was emotionally ready for which ever way this phone call went. If they were bad, I know my mommy senses would kick in and I would begin to move heaven and earth to get these kids here. However, if they were great would I be ok knowing I would never parent these kids???

[A little back note here. My other two forever kids have two siblings also in care. There was only one time when I could have taken placement of these two siblings (almost 2 years after placement) and I was not ready. They were moved to what everyone called a good foster home. It is not. The girls are now there in an adoptive situation even after my complaints. These foster parents are short sided and hurtful, they have even physically hurt (not "abused") one of the girls in front of me. Making me very afraid of what they do behind closed doors. I feel guilt for those girls because I do love them and wish I could have them. ]


I finally call the foster parent, it was magical I felt like I know him. We went to the same college and have a lot of the same basic beliefs. We talked on the phone for almost 2 hours! I felt such peace. He loved those kids as much as I love mine, with as much commitment and determination. I felt safe with him in charge of them. I welcomed him into my family. I assumed I would feel a little grief if I decided not to pursue them, even if I knew it to be the right choice. I didn't though. I felt my family grow instead. We are already planning to meet in April halfway between our houses.

DId I mention that this happened on Alijah, my dear AS's adoption day? Yes, two years to the day he legally became mine, a day that always brings the past up a little bit, now had the floodgates wide open!

I am kinda surprised I made it!!

New and old...

Today was a day of stress and adventure. My parents came up for lunch. My parents try really hard to accept my "choices" in life, but its not them. They could never foster, never have multiple special needs kids, never understand why a single mom would want to add more kids. I understand that they don't get it, but they don't have too, they just have to be respectful of my choice to me and my family. It went ok. They tried harder than they ever have before, however they will never be able to see me and my life as normal. I am ok with that.

Also, me and my sister have decided to take a leap of hope by taking some things out of our kids diets. We are removing a lot of processed foods and dyes, trying to eat food that is as organic and natural as possible. This is in some hope to bring down some of our children's behaviors, it may not help, but it surely cannot hurt us! We will see!

Oh man, I needed to update that my eldest had a large breakdown today. It has been three years since move in day and over a year since TPR and K seemed to be broken down today by anger over some injustices in K' short life. We yelled and cried together. It was so therapeutic. we ended by me rocking K to a peaceful sleep.

The agency's retreat...

It must be friday!! I have cw at my house every week, as well as therapists weekly, and other services at least once a month, but when I need to run something by them no one is around. Wednesday through Friday of this week was my agency's retreat. They go away to some non disclosed location and team build. I have the on call number, but my questions aren't important enough to bother their seminars for, so I am left to look at the weekend with no answers. I don't like that. I am reminded of this time last year. They were all at a retreat and I get a call that they need me to pick up an old respite placement at a little police station an hour away. That was all the information I got, it was just for the night while everybody cooled off, or so I was told. Apparently the girl and her fm got in a fight and she shoved fm to the ground. FM pressed charges and demanded an immediate and final removal. I was not surprised that the agency didn't tell me or that they didn't answer any of my calls that night or for the next three days. On Monday they told me what I already knew that the girl was not going back and that they would work to make arrangements for her. I was full and only temp allowed to keep her. Ten days later they moved her to her now adoptive home. I miss her even though we stay in touch. I really wish it would have worked out for me to be her mom, but I'll settle for her cool aunt!

Character flaw...

Today an old friend stopped by. I haven't spoken to her in a while, and it was weird that she still sought me out for advice. I have realized that it is a fault of mine that I feel the need to solve others problems. I know it doesn't sound that bad, but I try to solve so many problems for so many people that I spread my self thin, and I get involved in things I have no place being. I do not think it is always a bad thing. I think it is what gives me the heart and the strength to take on children with special needs. I also would wager that there are many other foster parents who would feel that they might also have the same character flaw. I felt better tonight when I could echo thoughts back to her and help her see her own ideas, but not feel the need to run and fix it. I think it will be good for her to solve it for herself and I know that it will be good for me to keep myself concentrated.

What I wish...

Its 11:11 make a wish. What do I wish for? Well, besides the wish for my children to be happy, healthy, loved, and safe; I wish for justice in the system, available services for every child who needs them, a safe spot for every one, loving arms for every child, cures of all kinds, and hope.

I had a meeting with my lawyer today, the one handling my oldest two's adoption, he is a great man who has worked on every side of the system and is honest to a fault at times. He knows what he is doing. He unfortunately has also worked with many who are disrupting adoptions. This has left him slightly jaded. He looked at my older two's files and looked at me and said "Melanie, I know we have been over this and you are sure and committed, but are you aiming for martyrdom?" I laughed, his expression didn't change, he told me it pained him to see me so kind and loving, when there is no support in the system, he told me that it would be awful, if I turned into those people I cannot understand, who have had enough of their children. He then wished me the best and went on with his paper work. I have never NEVER questioned my adopting these two. They are not easy children. Both have significant special needs and require a lot out of me, but I am their mom, that is all there is. I have no way to explain to him, why I am doing it other than that. It is not because no one else would take them, or that they have been with me for three years, or even that it is what I know. It is simple yet fierce, they are my children, always have been, always will be.

Today made me think...

Today was a good day. We went to the zoo and museum out of town and had a nice time. It is hard to think that I might be willingly jumping back into the whole fostering thing. True, two of my kids are still foster, but we are just waiting on the date, and they have been here for three years. I want to continue fostering very much, but things will be so off for a while, we will struggle time and again for routine and balance. Outings and get togethers will be harder. It will come with great blessings, but I hope I am doing the right thing for my kids. They all have their own needs and we are doing ok now, but will that change when I have more people to look after? I feel this is the right path, and I am not desperate, so I will not just take the first placement they call me with, but still, I hope I have enough sense in me to make sure it is the right one. I know that some people think I am crazy being a single mom of three kids, but I know what I can handle and once you hit three adding more is nothing! ;)

first official blog... the world may stop turning!

So here I am jumping into the blog world, why you may ask? Well because I like to talk and a s a single mother of three high needs boys, I have no one to talk to!! That is not entirely true, I do have friends and family, but they can only listen to so much, before they just cannot take any more!! So here I am blogging to nobody, rambling on about myself like always! So why do I think any of this matters to anyone, I don't know, I don't think this blog itself does, but I do think I have a lot to say about being a single mom while fostering, adopting and raising special needs kids. So here it is my first blog, and it really isn't anything special, however bear with me since it is 1:30AM and I have had a very long day!