It was around 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon when Ms. Nancy got a call from a foster parent that was in dire need of childcare for a 7 month old boy named “Sam”. The foster mom had just received a call from a social worker who asked her to take Sam into her home, temporarily. She and her husband already had four boys and things were cramped, but she did not want to turn Sam away. The social worker told this foster mom that Sam was the youngest of three boys and his brothers were going to be separated from him because the other family could not handle an infant. The foster mom stated she needed a childcare facility that would help Sam feel safe and provide him with lots of love and care. She needed something temporary and quick. She went on to explain that the boys were removed from the father’s custody because he was allowing their mother, who was addicted to drugs, to come to the house and see them even though the social worker had said she was not be around the children.
Aaron told me with a huge smile on his face, "I didn't know my brother could sit up now...My bubby is getting big."
Ms. Nancy told the foster mom that we did not have a full time infant space available at Family Enrichment Center at that moment but she could use the free respite services on Friday and Monday. As it turned out, over the course of the weekend we had an infant child drop out due to no longer needing our services so Sam was able to come full time. A few weeks went by and the foster mom was so impressed with our services that she told the other foster family who had “Aaron” and “John” about us. They came to Ms. Nancy the next week and enrolled the other siblings. By now a month had passed and the older boys had not seen Sam which is not unusual when sibling groups are separated upon removal. They had no idea he would be at Wee Care and when they walked into the daycare they were so excited to see Sam. They were so excited to see him that Aaron did not want to go to his class and John did not want to go to school. Aaron told me with a huge smile on his face, “I didn’t know my brother could sit up now…. My bubby is getting big.” My heart broke at that moment, yet I felt so good about the fact that although these brothers would not see each other on weekends or nights, they had an opportunity to see each other every day at Wee Care. This situation, that was supposed to be temporary as the social worker said it would be, is now going on 6 months.