TGIW!

That's right. Thank goodness it's Wednesday! After having Monday off, I have had the longest two workdays of recent history. I guess it is payback for a four day weekend off. Friday can't come soon enough for me this week. And then another long weekend!
As part of my job, I attend PPR meetings. In Family Services terminology, that is Permanency, Planning and Review. It is a meeting to assemble a "team" of relevant parties to review a foster child's permanent placement plan. I attend as a Community Representative, sort of a neutral party. The one I attended recently made me so very sad. I knew this child (now a teenager) as a baby, toddler and preschooler. He/she has always had behavioral problems, but now has a series of "diagnoses". He/she doesn't live in our area any longer and is residing in his/her 30th foster placement (home). Plans are being made for the future, which he/she hopes is adoption and eventually college. Unfortunately, the chances of adoption are slim to none at this point. Do you ever wonder what happens to these children? For what ever reason, this child has had a childhood so extreme that the emotional and pschological damage done to him/her is mostly irreversible. I worry about his/her future and I wonder about his/her past. It has been 10 years since I have heard his/her name. Could I have intervened and made a difference in this child's life? Most likely not. There have been a lot of people cross his/her path along the way. I hope some were able to make a positive impact and give him/her something to hold on to as he/she prepares to enter the adult world. It is a sad reflection on our society. And this is just one child among hundreds of thousands with these kinds of problems. Please say a little prayer for this child and all the others out there like them.