Temporary Post

I bet you know what that means!
New baby at the Dentons.
Baby JC (I, for one, really want to change what we call him while he's here. I can't STAND the name!) Isn't he cute?
And his story may be the saddest story yet.

I got a call Wednesday afternoon. "We have a one-year-old boy in Phoenix. Can you come get him?"
I never know how to respond to this question. The few times that I have turned CPS down I've really felt guilty. So I almost always say yes. This time I responded, "Yes, but after I make my family dinner, and after the commute has calmed down."

This is his story (the one-paragraph version that anyone knows):
Mom abandoned him and big brother in Phoenix. CPS had been called in January, but I guess there wasn't enough evidence to take the kids. Rumor has it (where rumors at CPS get started, I don't know) that Mom was being deported, and she purposely left the kids here. They can't find either parent, and CPS can't even get in touch with the other foster family right now. Such typical CPS bull.

Wow. Have you ever heard anything so sad in your life? I don't know if it's true, but what if it is?
I don't think JC understands English. And his first few hours here were unusual. He never asked for Mom, Brother, anybody. Hardly made a sound, actually.
This morning when Brad went down to check on him, he had climbed out of the playpen and was cuddled up on one of the bed pillows he'd moved to the floor. He was rocking and hitting his head on the pillow repeatedly. I want you to know that he had not let out a peep since getting in bed the night before. Did the same thing when I got him up from his nap. It was so pitiful to see. At first, I thought maybe he was autistic, but the longer he's here the more I think he was just severely neglected. Both of those behaviors are characteristic of severe neglect.
I can't bear it. Sometimes I want to smack all these parents. But most of the time I just want to save as many of these helpless, neglected, abused, sweet, loving, guiltless kids as I can get my hands on.

There's no solution.

Epiphany #32--The more I see of the foster care world, the less I really want to know.
Pictures will be removed tomorrow.