Personal Narrative: Azealia Has Changed My Family

My sister had a baby, and for reasons I would prefer not to reveal, within two days of the birth it was clear that my sister, Chloe, was unable to take care of her daughter. At this point, I made the immediate decision to take custody of the adorable little girl, Zala, and raise her on my own- resulting in me becoming a single mother.

One day in August 2013 I woke up ate my breakfast got ready for work just like every other day. Not realizing this day was going to change my life forever. Around noon that day I received a call from my wife, she said do you think we can take care of the neighbor’s child who was eight-months old for a little while. I sat there for a few minutes and then I replied yes that would be alright not realizing that little while would be months to years. I had no knowledge of kinship care, foster care, foster children, or adoption. My wife or I did not even know what the concept was when you have a foster child in your home. This was the first time in over ten-years I had been responsible for an infant in my home, throughout all the shock I still was positive that we could help this child and his mother with reunifying and him getting to go home. The first morning I woke up at 5:30 am and made him a bottle and some oatmeal cereal, it became my morning routine with him waking up and feeding him for next few months, before I could sleep till 7:30 or so before heading to work. My wife and I rearranged our lives to welcome another child into our heart and lives.

Alexander is a five-year-old Mexican-American child who has been my client for five weeks. Both of Alexander’s parents are homeless with unknown mental health diagnoses. It is due to these conditions, as well as physical abuse by his mother, that Alexander and his three younger siblings were removed from the parent’s care seven months ago by Child Protective Services. The four children were placed with their paternal aunt, who was granted temporary guardianship. In this current living situation there are a total of eight children and three adults.

It was five years into our marriage when my husband and I decided to adopt. We were told that I was infertile. We adopted a 3-year-old boy called Ryan. He was very kind and affectionate. He would often hug me and say 'I love you mommy'. We were happy; our little family was complete. I then became pregnant.

Years ago, I had to go to my biological father’s house during the summer. He had three children, Wyatt, who was 16, Devin, who was 13, and Colton, who was 12. I used to like going to his house during the summer, but after a while it got boring and I saw unfair treatment among his children. I didn’t want to go to his house anymore, so I talked to him about it. That conversation changed my life for the better.

Getting Briana Grace Home In December of 2000 my husband and I were given a picture of a little girl who was in a baby house in Kazakhstan. We knew in a moment that she was our daughter. After some time in prayer we knew that this was the child we had asked God to give us. We started right away with all the paper work and then came the costs. I have to admit we were unprepared for the cost of an overseas adoption, but we put our trust in God and set to work. We worked overtime when we could. We had yard sales, held drawings and I even put out a donation jar at Hanford Christian Supply where I was the manager. We also learned to live on a very tight budget. It took us seven months but we had raised all the money we needed for the fees and travel.

As she spoke I couldn’t wait to share my daughter’s story with her! My precious baby that was sitting contently in her car seat, full of dark, soft, fluffy hair and had been fortunate… her birth mom had been incarcerated for almost her entire pregnancy so she was unable to get her drug fix until she was released. I believe while she spent her days clean, she had a clear mind that fell in love with this life growing inside of her. Even though she went right back to her same habits after being released, I think that time with a clear head gave her this unbelievable love for her baby girl. As soon as that baby was born and

However, thank God and my family that my daughter was fine, living in a safe home; as a smart girl, she was studying in a magnet school. The social worker mention a program called CalWORKs/GAIN and informed me about the advantages that the program offers to get ahead. The program gave me the opportunity to continue studying. At that moment, my life changed, I decided that I was strong enough to move forward, fight for myself, and give a good example to my daughter. I knew I deserved a better life and I knew my self-worth, and achieve any goal. In my mind, I knew my daughter deserved a mother that gives her good examples of strength and

One day Johnny asked me if I could be his father and adopt him. Knowing his father was missing in action and he never met the man I seriously had to ponder on the thought of taking full responsibility of this child. I am a spiritual man and it is my nature to care for people, but there was something special about Johnny and I knew he needed my help. I decided I would adopt Johnny. Johnny came to live with me and now not only did I inherit a child,I inherited a very sick child that needed a lot of care and help. I made a promise I would never turn my back on

The summer before my senior year, I worked at Camp Evergreen, a Christian summer camp in north Georgia. My cabin that summer was the oldest boys, there would be two first-time campers joining us. One of them was an older foster child who has had a lasting impact on the way that I empathize with the experiences of others. His name was Chris.

My adoption: In this video I cried like a baby because I felt the mother’s passion love strength and pain through the video. The words that spoke to me is when the mother stated adoption isn’t a birth mothers rejection but an unconditional love that inspires her to put herself last.

opening, and things became clearer for us that we were now following God's plan for us. We now have three amazing girls to raise. During this journey, I found that I would like become a therapist for foster

I hope you all are doing well, its been awhile since we last talked. I know you do not believe I am anything close to the right person for your daughter Hayley. I have made some terrible mistakes in my past, I was very immature and very degrading with my posts on Twitter. I look back on my former decisions and see how juvenile and heinous they were. Since being separated from your daughter I have realized all my actions come with consequences. I realized my actions are seen by more than I had perceived, including my former Vice Principal, Mr. Dempsey and you. I wanted to let you know I have changed, I know now that what I had been posting on social media was terrible and honestly I am embarrassed looking back on what I had posted. I do

I was adopted when I was the age of 4. The adoption has changed my life completely. When I was first adopted, I did so many bad things. I fought to solve my problems, I stole if I did not get what I wanted, and I ran away from my duties. When I look back at the things that I did, there are things I would never dare to do today. I also have to mention that I would not be the person that I am today if it were not for my mother. A lot of work, love and patience comes with raising a child, and she has it all. She has done such a great job with me that people that know me today would not be able to picture

For as long as I’ve known Elayna, I’ve never known her to give up on any of her convictions. Not only is she a dedicated student, a passionate basketball player, and a potter in spare time, she’s also very much an animal person, and she’ll say so. Last year when she had the opportunity to volunteer at Antler Ridge, a wildlife rescue center, she enthusiastically took it, even though it meant getting rabies shots. She’s volunteered there every Saturday since, and oftentimes she’ll bring back stories and photos to share over dinner, trying to convince us to adopt stray kittens and rodents that desperately need a home. I’m not a cat person in the slightest, but Elayna has managed to convince even me to consider, albeit briefly, the benefits of