Speechless...

I am sitting here thinking about what my answering machine said when I got home tonight from work. It was a call from our local dept. of social services. We are licensed foster parents. We have been for a year, but we have never taken a placement due to our adoption of Lilyann in China. We recently had a visit from our foster-adopt social worker. She was so nice. She said she had taken our name off of all the lists when we got back from China since we needed that time to bond with her. Since we are now ready to take kids for respite care, our name is back on the list. I should have known our next call wouldn't be for respite. Back when were first licensed almost a year ago, we stated we could only do respite, and our first call was for a newborn baby boy, in the hospital, waiting for a placement, and possible adoption. We couldn't do it, as we had just recieved our referral from China, and we were busy getting prepared. We prayed he would find a family soon.

This time, the call was different. It was the same older man that calls with the warm friendly voice, who does not pressure, and is very respectful no matter what your answer is. He is so kind, and I can only imagine the situations he sees everyday. Today the message he left was in regards to a baby under the age of one. An infant. An infant who at this very moment is in a major hospital in a big city. People are only transferred to this hospital if they have significant injuries. This infant child is there due to abuse. This child needs a home, a home to be loved, and nurtured in. A healing home. I honestly cannot comprehend how someone could hurt an infant, or a child of any age for that matter. My heart is sick.

When we were first licensed last year, I remember reading a blog that was written by a foster parent. I remember her saying that doing foster care has changed her so much. She talked about all the babies she had cared for over the years with various injuries and broken bones from abuse, and how that affected her. At that moment I began to realize how very prevalent this is in our society, in our country, in our state, in our city, and every other city in the US. That reality hit home here tonight. It is not just the cases that make the local news. Most aren't publicized. It is not just the boy with shaken baby syndrome at work. It is happening all the time, everywhere. Tonight a baby who is hurt, lost and alone, needs a home.