Private foster care providers have refused to take in at least 372 abused or neglected children so far this year, forcing most to sleep in Texas Child Protective Services offices for a night or more. Of that number, 20 kids spent 39 nights in CPS offices.

No wonder my family grew so large. I've read this article several times this morning.

I'm struggling with both cynicism and disbelief at the moment, outraged... more

I spend more and more time each day contemplating problems that seem to have no answers.

“Each month, about 20 percent of the children sleeping in CPS offices were newly discharged from psychiatric hospitals.”

This statement is from an article today in the San Antonio newspaper that bemoans the fact that over 300 foster children are sleeping in the offices due to no bed space within the foster care system. Caregivers refuse... more

I have a son who came to me five years ago along with his three brothers and a sister. This one son, then 8 years old, was considered a Level of Care 3 kid. His psychiatrist recommended that he be split from the sibling group, and not adopted. I disagreed since I don’t participate in splitting up sibling groups. Was I right or wrong?

It would have been easier without him, that’s for certain, but maybe not, as the remaining children may have acted out in an intensely negative manner in response. They are a very difficult group of children on... more

While still piggybacking on Nancy’s post, I have more to say on the subject. I wrote the first one, went outside to weed the raspberries and to think while moderating activities for two dozen children who each give me about four minutes of help in the garden per week.

Sabrina boiled two tea kettles of hot water to pour on the fire ant hills, organic and cheap. I hope PETA isn’t outraged over our cruelty to these ants that leave... more

I thought about Nancy’s post all morning as she described her purpose in parenting.

“I am very driven and very goal oriented. I want to see what I consider to be measurements of success. While I can intellectually wrap my brain around the concept that success might simply be that I kept my child safe for 18 years that is not what I had in mind as my definition of parenting success.”

I can hardly echo more than a big,... more

I am fixing to bellyache about a problem that I truly have no solutions for. Colloquialisms ending with a preposition, sometimes I lose my ability to speak grammatically, so incensed am I by the state of the world. One of the first sites I check each day is this listing of adoption and foster care news.

I have been blessed, or cursed possibly, with a sense of unease in regards to the welfare of children; a feeling that causes me to continuously ponder, obsess and try to learn more about the plight of children.... more

I had a runaway daughter this past week. The middle child, now almost 17, in an original sibling group of 7 tough, strong-willed children, tore out of our house after the beautiful afternoon high school graduation of her older birth sister.

I’d pointed out that she seemed to be harboring a raging case of PMS. Often she’s referred to as our favorite Viper Girl due to a particularly strong mean streak. Conversely she’s very attached to me, needs my constant reassurance and she’s affectionate as well, helpful... more

“Things I never thought I would have to say before becoming a parent, No. 1101: Stop licking the refrigerator!”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution started this Vent section many, many years ago. I greatly prefer laughing to just about anything else and this section cracks me up constantly. Home of such winners as, “Do wind breakers really break wind?” which once caused me to be unable to hold it together for an entire day back when I still worked in the... more

I have another great kid, pictured here with me; he’s 13 years old, the oldest of his sibling group of five. They’ve been with me for five years now.

A very challenging group with severe emotional issues. He’s had his own, has demonstrated some disturbed behavior at times, but he has responded in therapy and decided that I must be the real deal. He’s open and affectionate, polite and even grateful at times.

He’s the older brother of a 12 year old here. This twelve year old, Jose, is either somewhat autistic or it is Asperger’s... more

As I read this article on homeless children, its irony was not lost on me. I have worked myself to the bone, providing a home for children, children who once had no clue about where they’d live, or if they’d be able to remain with their siblings.

Yet this once nice home here, before children with severe destructive tendencies moved in, is also the same home that they choose to run away from in anger, unable and unwilling to face their emotional pain and... more