What to do

Something happened last week to quite literally make me push my chair from my desk and take a deep breath. And I have little doubt in my mind that had you been sitting where I was sitting you might have done the very same. I was shocked, saddened, and suspicious all at the same time. Before I tell you what happened let me give you a little bit of background.

I'm a member over at www.adoption.com They have a ton of forums, including Foster Parent forums by state. I spend most of my time at their site reading through Texas Foster Parent posts. So far it's been a great resource to find out what my home study would be like, how long the finger printing process should have taken and some of the scary/wonderful things that other foster parents have been through. It's a good place.

They have a feature that allows you to send a single user a private message rather than always having to talk publicly in the forum. Once a user found out about my CASA experience I received several private messages asking questions about CASA.

Well, I received an e-mail last week saying I had a private message and so I went to their site to view it. It was from someone claiming to be a 14 yr old girl and she, most simply put, asked me to adopt her.

After I got over the initial surprise I asked around and apparently this wasn't a common thing to happen. But, it reminded me of the many times I have been told that once a foster child is eligible for adoption that they'll often ask if you'll adopt them so they can stay where they are. So this might have been my first time being asked to adopt someone, but it probably won't be my last.

I remember during my home study the investigator asked question after question trying to figure out what I would do in certain situations. So often my first answer was simply a fervent "PRAY". She was stubborn and wanted another answer also but if this experience is any example, prayer is going to be a constant and necessary thing.

Every situation, every time.