It's been just about a year since I took Cherub Mamma (my first blog) down. I had over 900 blog posts and what seemed like zillions of Facebook posts. I really enjoyed writing. Never in a million years did I think my rambling would do little more than be a therapy outlet for me. But I had lots of people private message frequently letting me know that my thoughts on the foster care system helped them navigate it better and it helped their kids.
Still, as time went on, I realized how public my "anonymous" blog really was. I wrote about what I knew and that meant I was writing about my kids...the ones with my last name. And they deserved more privacy. They didn't need the whole internet having access to their diagnoses and their struggles.
So I took that blog down.
It was weird to me to just stop writing. But I did. And I got used to it. I left almost every single foster parent "group" on Facebook. I started to live my life without thinking about CPS every single day of the week.
But then I met a new friend.
Years ago, when we were caring for Russel and Star, a local friend told me that someone at her church was getting ready to start a foster/adoptive parent support group. I "friended" Carly on Facebook and that was about it. We never messaged each other. We didn't meet in person. I never went to the support group meetings. It was just an internet thing.
Carly not only fosters and runs the support group, but she also heads up a ministry where CPS messages this organization when they need items to help support families of origin. For example, there might be a young mom who has been "flagged" by CPS as needing support. In Texas, this mom might be referred to a program called Family Based Services. CPS will then reach out to Carly's ministry letting them know that in order for this young mom to be able to keep custody of her child, that they need a pack-n-play so the child will have a safe place to sleep. The ministry reaches out to local churches to supply this need.
One day Carly put a post up saying a family was in need of size 14-16 boys clothes. Bart had just cleaned out his closet and I had a couple bags of things I was already going to donate. It just made sense to get them to Carly.
As we went back and forth about what our schedules were, we figured out that Carly and her husband had JUST bought a home - literally - two streets over from where I live. We laughed at the coincidence and made arrangements to meet in person to transfer the clothes.
From there, the friendship took off. I babysit (somewhat "illegally") her foster babies. For awhile she was caring for multiple small humans. So if one baby had court or an appointment of some kind, I would babysit the other one. After a funny episode in the ER with one of the babies, we decided that I would just be the Nana. Now even their 5 year old daughter, Natalie, calls me Nana L***.
My family has started the process to get licensed again so we can "legally" babysit for the foster kids Carly and her husband care for. Let me tell you...digging up all the necessary paperwork for the licensing agency has certainly opened up the feels.
All this dancing with CPS made new blog posts start to run through my head. I toyed with the idea of starting a new blog page.
Then, after following the legal case for almost four years, I finally saw that Kori was made to face justice for her role in the death of her daughter, Dandelion. She took a plea deal and the sentencing was 10 years in prison. This seriously drug up all the feels. I can't even really identify them. But I wanted to share them with the people that had followed me through that season of my life.
And here we are. Cherub Mamma 2.0
My goal is going to be trying to highlight the errors of The System while elevating things foster and adoptive parents can do differently and/or better. I'm going to try to not talk about the kids with my last name. They bring a lot of dynamics to my experience as a parent...as all children do. But they deserve privacy and don't need everyone knowing even what diagnoses they have. I'm not sure HOW I'm going to accomplish this...because I want people to know why I feel strongly about certain parenting techniques and/or approaches. But my goal is to not talk, specifically, about my kids. (Unless I'm bragging about them. I do plan to still do that! LOL)
Welcome to this blog. I'm sharing this post on both the old Facebook page and the new one. On Sunday, January 26th, I will be taking the original Facebook page down once more. If you want to get updates on the ramblings in my brain, subscribe to this blog or "like" the new Cherub Mamma 2.0 Facebook page.
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