avatarAmanda Laughtland

Summary

A couple prepares for their first night as foster parents after agreeing to a same-day placement of a three-year-old girl, navigating the challenges of providing for her immediate needs and comfort.

Abstract

The narrative describes the journey of a couple who receive a case file for a three-year-old girl in the morning and must quickly decide whether to take on the responsibility of fostering her. After a series of communications, they agree to the placement. They spend the afternoon shopping for child-friendly food and necessities, guided by a note from the girl's current emergency foster mom. As they await the girl's arrival, they reflect on the preparations made, including setting up a toddler bed and gathering board books and stuffed animals. The story ends with the girl's arrival, carrying her belongings in a black plastic bag, setting the stage for the challenges ahead.

Opinions

  • The couple's decision to foster the girl is made with careful consideration and mutual agreement, indicating a strong partnership and readiness to take on the role of foster parents.
  • The note from the emergency foster mom suggests a sense of community and shared responsibility among foster parents, with valuable advice passed on to ensure the child's comfort and well-being.
  • The couple's shopping choices reflect an attempt to balance nutritional needs with foods that might appeal to a young child, showing thoughtfulness in their approach to caring for the foster daughter.
  • The presence of Mr. Cat, the stuffed animal, and the preparation of a cozy environment suggest an eagerness to make the foster daughter feel welcomed and loved in her new home.
  • The cliffhanger ending implies that the couple's true test as foster parents is just beginning, with the arrival of the girl marking the start of a new chapter in their lives.

Family

How to Survive Your First Night as a Foster Parent

Flint & Steel Two-Part Writing Challenge (Part One)

Photo by Tim-Oliver Metz on Unsplash

Your social worker from the adoption agency emails you a case file in the morning for a same-day placement. It’s a PDF with a vague narrative description about a three-year-old girl, and a grainy photocopied picture. You need to contact your partner at work and decide if you both want to say yes. You go back and forth via email, text, and phone call. You both agree: yes.

Your social worker calls you and asks if you both are sure. You say yes. Your social worker contacts the state social worker and says yes.

The state social worker contacts the emergency foster home that has extended your soon-to-be foster daughter’s stay twice. Later you find out that this foster mom has written you a note with ideas about what your foster daughter likes to eat, and how you might want to put her into footie pajamas at bedtime with the zipper in the back because otherwise she might decide to take off her pull-up in the night and who knows where you’ll find it?

You’re working from home this quarter, teaching online. You take the afternoon off from grading and go to the grocery store, buying everything you think a three-year-old girl could want or need. You and your partner have a fridge full of sharp cheddar cheese, dino kale, and dark beer. Think, think: what do little kids like to eat?

You buy bananas and baby carrots and chicken nuggets. You buy a package of children’s washcloths, small and soft. You buy a toothbrush with Dora the Explorer smiling from the brightly colored handle.

You already have a toddler bed, cozy blankets, board books, and stuffed animals. Mr. Cat is already purring on the couch, ready to greet his new best friend.

The social worker from the state is coming at 7:30PM. You and your partner are waiting at the dining room table. When you finally hear noises in the front yard, you meet your foster daughter as she’s carrying her own belongings up the wooden steps in a black plastic bag.

This (true) story is part one of a two-part writing challenge from Flint & Steel. The challenge asks that the two parts be published one at a time such that this first part ends with a cliffhanger.

Here’s the link to part two:

Foster Care
Family
Survival
Flint And Steel
LGBTQ
Recommended from ReadMedium