In the Greatest of Hope

By now, you may have seen the speech "The Hill We Climb" by Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on Inauguration Day. While I did not see it live, I was made aware of it through many posts on social media that drove me to watch a replay of it last night. After listening to her delivery, I sat in silence, so moved by her words that I literally could not find my own to describe the message in her poem. After reflecting on it for a few minutes, my first action was to text a link to my teenage daughter with the words "please watch this today." Later that evening, I watched it again with my wife and found myself even more inspired and filled with hope than after the first viewing. What Ms. Gorman expressed is her message has so many layers, it would take more than a simple blog to unpack all of it and I hesitate to even try for I'm not sure I could do it justice. Every now and then, someone comes along who is filled with so much light, we can't help but be drawn to it for...

At a time when so many are struggling, I've been contemplating how I can be of service to others. After our foster daughter of nearly a year left us in March to reunify with her family, we were all just learning about the COVID pandemic that would change our world. I recall deciding to take a break before accepting another foster placement, but it was some time before we received another call for assistance. As days turned into weeks and weeks became months, we began to think we weren't "open in the system" – available to receive new placements. Such was not the case and DCF confirmed they did have our status correct, but indicated since the shutdown of the state of CT in March, calls to the CareLine dropped significantly. In fact, "significantly" had a number … 33%. These calls serve as a trigger for DCF to investigate and confirm a child's well-being. A 33% drop means 14,600 less calls over a 6 month period – March to Aug. – vs. year ago. Let...

It's taken me some time to write this as I struggled to find the words. For almost a full year, my wife and I were foster parents to a very special little girl. The call came on Friday of Memorial Day weekend last year. I had taken the afternoon off to enjoy a beautiful New England day and the unofficial start of summer. As I was heading out, DCF called to ask if we could take a 3 year old girl on an emergency basis - that means there was nowhere else for her to go and a foster home was needed for 72 hours. As the situation was explained based on what little info DCF shared, my mind started racing through what we would need for supplies, clothes, food and other items to support her. In addition, the words of my own daughter echoed in my head. I recalled talking with her about becoming a foster parent to which she replied – "you know when they call, you have to say yes as you could be the only option." Later that evening, two case workers and the little girl arrived ...