There are a lot of people who complain about social services and welfare. Ironically the people who complain the loudest seem to also have problems with people using or knowing about birth control and having the option of abortion. These people seem to miss the point that these two often need each other. I mean, if you are going to force people to carry to term every pregnancy there will be more need for social services and welfare. Because shit happens and seems to happen the most to the young, ignorant & unprepared.
Choices aside… the subject of THIS post is the fact that SOME people put their actions where their values are. My mother was such a person. Perhaps it was her Christian beliefs or her church support or her years as a La Leche League Leader (a non-profit support group for breastfeeding mothers) but we had several years of having Foster Kids live with us when I was a teen.
I remember the first one was a 16 year old pregnant Latina. She was a very unhappy girl and I shudder thinking of her raising that first baby. She was frankly kinda cruel and mean to my little sister. She didn’t last very long at all. I have no idea what her name was.
The next one was a young teen who’d already given birth. Leslie and her son Jason. She was a happy woman and Jason was a flat out adorable baby. I think they lived with us just a short while. Probably until she became a legal age to live on her own. Funniest thing I remember of them was the lesson Leslie learned about NOT lifting a baby in an overhead game JUUUUST after you’ve fed him. I think we ALL gagged when he spit up just as he was above her and it landed smack into her mouth! Lucky for her he was breastfed. lol
Next teen mom was Chloe & her baby Esther. Esther was the fattest little thing cuz Chloe was a serious over-producer of breast milk and the skinniest woman! I think she pumped tons of extra to donate to premie babies.
Fidel in our backyard with the chicken coop
So when my brother’s friend, Fidel (who we all called Fido, cuz he imitated a dog bark very well!), when Fidel’s father had an argument with a guy trying to repossess his van & decided to settle it with a shotgun and the repossess agent died of the gun wounds…. (still following the logic?) …. so when the only parent Fidel had was carted off to jail, my brother convinced my parents, who were registered Foster Parents, to take Fidel in.
And I must tell you about the time the police were looking for Fidel’s father. See… after his father shot the agent, he drove his Van to our neighborhood knowing his son would be hanging with my brother. So the police found the van & knocked on our door looking for their suspect. And my brother let them in. Lord only know what he did with his stash! lmao!!! Our parents were both working at the time and I was napping… which meant I was home from school, rubbed a good orgasm out and was indeed napping! lol So there is a brief knock on my bedroom door, a burly cop comes in, sees me, says “Don’t get up” and proceeds to look under my bed. I’m thinking, “Crap! Whatever/whoever he’s looking for is going to see him, roll onto its/his back and shoot me through the bed!” But he just got up, checked the closet & left. Once in the hall he met another guy who questioned if he’d checked my room. He was asked if he checked the bed, yes, the closet, yes, the drawers…. crap! So he comes back in & checks the dresser drawers & I’m all…. “what are they planning to find a hand?!”
Anyway… I was finally able to get outa bed at which point the cops had finished their search having found nothing. I later found out Fidel’s dad was hanging out at the local Baskin Robbins where I worked waiting until his son got to our house to try and flee justice. Didn’t happen, he was obviously convicted. And Fidel spent about a year at our house, until his older brother got it together enough to have him live with him.
Fidel was a pot-headed, laid back reggae Dude with a happy attitude towards life. I hear he ended up a full time stay at home Dad to 6 kids, scraping by but happy. Whether we impacted that or not it doesn’t really matter. We provided a safe place for needy kids to be while they transitioned into adulthood.
There isn’t a joke for this post. Its just another story in my crazy childhood. But I always felt any bible thumper demanding no sex education in schools and no choice when it comes to a woman’s decision to have kids had better be taking in foster kids or shutting the fuck up. Money where your mouth is, is all I’m saying…