Receiving the Placement Call for Little Guy

With our adoption moving along smoothly, I wanted to share the story of when Little Guy was first placed with me in foster care. 

2013 was the year that I received the most foster placements: 4. Little Guy was #4 for that year. When I went back on the foster care placement list in December, my criteria was: 

• One child
• Any race 
• Male or Female
• Age: 0-3 months old

It's interesting how placements of foster kids work, it mostly goes by the city you live in. They like to place the kids in or around the city they were displaced from, because it makes visitations with birth parents easier/closer. It can sometimes take awhile to get placed with a Newborn from foster care, (unless that newborn comes with a sibling) because a lot of foster families want Newborns. Also, some Case Managers do not like placing Newborns with single parents. I was expecting to wait a few weeks before I received a placement because of my limited placement criteria and because I'm single. 

After going back on the list, Little Guy was my second placement call. The call came on a Monday at about 11:00am. This is the information I received: 

• Male
• White 
• 4 days old
• Which hospital he was at 
• Reason he was put into care 

I said "Yes," I would be willing to take him. Since I had experience with similar cases, the placement coordinator, from my foster care agency, vouched for me with CPS saying that I was a "good fit" for him. A few minutes later, I received the confirmation call from CPS. So, not being in the direct geographic area and being single - I still got chosen as his foster home. 

At this time, I wasn't sure if I was *really* going to get him. I've had situations where CPS makes the confirmation call, but then no child ever shows up (normally because they found a relative & forget to inform the foster parent). It was getting pretty late in the day and I still hadn't heard from the Case Manager (CM) on how pickup or drop off was going to work.

FINALLY around 2pm, I received a call from the CM. It was decided that the CM would be dropping off Little Guy to my house, as they didn't want me going to the hospital to pick him up. 

At around 6PM, he finally arrived. He was screaming his head off! The CM seemed overwhelmed and said he screamed the entire way from the hospital. I took him out of the car seat and rocked him, he quickly stopped crying :) 

Originally, the CM told me that Little Guy was most likely "short term" - that there was a relative that would possibly take him within a few days. That didn't end up happening and Little Guy ended up staying with me.  

Considering how random the foster placement system works, I feel so fortunate to have been chosen to be Little Guy's foster mom and soon-to-be adoptive mom. Life works in mysterious ways and I'll forever be grateful that our paths intersected. I feel like I was meant to be his mom! Now, just to get through the adoption process...! 

And that's how Little Guy came to live with me and how the process all began that is now leading to my first adoption.