Todd

Todd is a little boy that my parents have had as a foster child for the past two years.  They got him when he was first released from the hospital.  He's Native American, from the Omaha Tribe.  Apart from brief visits with his birth parents, my parents are the only parents he's ever known.  

My siblings are the same people he knows as his siblings, and his home is with them.  My own kids jokingly refer to him as "Uncle Todd."  =)

He has brought so much laughter and joy to my parents and my brothers and sisters still living there.  He's brought a new sense of youthfulness and fun to my dad, and filled my mom's days with what she loves most--taking care of little ones.  

Unfortunately, since my parents are not from the Tribe, they are not allowed to adopt him, though they would in a heartbeat.  They've known this all along, and yet the "system" has done great injustice to everyone involved.  For two years, the people in charge have said they would find an Indian family to be his foster or adoptive parents.  So several times a family was presented, they'd think Todd would be moving away, and then that family wouldn't work out for some reason, and he'd stay longer with my parents.  Of course, all this time he was growing older and becoming more attached.  My parents had been hoping to get permanent guardianship even though they couldn't adopt, and that did look hopeful for awhile.  

But now a family has been found.  A family from the Tribe.  My parents met them, and they do seem to be a good family, and Todd should have a good life with them.  But it angers me that this process has taken two years.  I'm angry that because of politics a child's life has been toyed with like this.  I'm grieved for a little boy who is being taken away from the only family he knows, who can't possibly understand why at his young age.  And  I'm grieved for my parents who are losing a child.  While they knew this was to be temporary, that didn't at all lessen the love they have for Todd or the whole-hearted way they have cared for him these past two years.  They are very selfless people to even do foster care at all, and to have Todd as their son for two years and then have to let him go has to be heartbreaking.  My siblings that live in Omaha have also embraced him and come to love him as part of the family.  Even from here in Maryland I'm so saddened by the thought that he won't be there next time we go to visit.  

While we trust in God's plan for Todd's life, it's so hard to see how all this can be for the good.  But, Mom and Dad, I know Todd is richer for the time he has spent with you.  I know firsthand what a blessing it is to have you as parents, even if it was only for his first couple years.  And I pray that as he goes on to a new chapter of life, he will always carry with him the loving foundation he started with.  

We'll miss you, Little Toddy.