Joy and Grace

Joy and Grace came after we said our good-byes to Baby L and Little A.  Joy and Grace were 3 years old and 23 months old.  They kept us on our toes.  They were little sweethearts but oh so full of mischief.  They were all over the place all of the time.  I couldn't sit down, I was always up to play referee.  They quickly became part of the family though.  They had a little brother who lived with another foster family and we did respite for him occasionally.  We said a couple of times that we would take him as a placement so they could all be together, but it never happened.  We had the girls almost 18 months and were getting ready to go to court for a jury trial to determine whether the girls were going to go home or go up for adoption.  We had a family meeting to try to come up with a family placement one last time and during that meeting, one of the CPS workers asked me if we would consider adopting them.  I said yes, but we supported reunification too.  All the options were being put on the table and so the CPS worker let the family know that adoption with us was an option too.  A couple of days later, the birthmom agreed to adoption, if we were the family that would take them.  At the courtdate where they terminated the birthparents rights, I hadn't been feeling well.  I thought it was just nerves.  I was happy that we were getting to adopt our girls, but I was sad for birthmom too.  Lots of conflicting emotions...she gave up Joy and Grace and was getting their little brother back as well as keeping her baby girl.