By ThinkJP.Consulting™ Copyright© 2015 - All Rights Reserved
I was working in the kitchen one afternoon when the phone rang.
Jack answered and I could tell from his side of the conversation that we
were being asked to take another foster person into our home.
He was asking about the background of the young man, his functioning
capacity and I.Q. All the normal
questions. As always, Jack told the
case manager that he would talk things over with me and get back with them.
As he shared the conversation with me, I was shocked that the agency would ask
us to take someone into our home straight from jail!
In my mind anyone coming from jail had to be a criminal, and I
just couldn’t invite a “criminal” into my home.
Jack shared with me some of the history on this young man, and while my
heart went out to him, I just didn’t think this would be a very wise decision.
Jack asked if we could tell them that we would at least go visit
the young man in jail that evening, and of course I had no problem with that.
That evening after dinner, our sitter arrived as scheduled and we were off to
visit the local jail. The young man
greeted us with a smile and one look at him told me this was NOT the environment
he needed to be in. We chatted with
him some and found him to be very honest and open about some of his problems.
Our hearts went out to him and that very night he was released into our
care.
The stories he shared with us about being physically, and emotionally abused by
many of the males in his life was heart breaking.
No young person should have to deal with the things this young man
endured. We desperately wanted to
help him find a better way of life and find peace within himself.
I can’t say that everything was perfect for this young man once he came to live
with us. We were there for him
through his suicide attempts, running away, depression, countless hours of
counseling, etc. One of the funniest
times was when he snuck out of his second story bedroom window and was caught in
a nearby town for stealing a car, which they termed “Joy Riding”.
Of course it would be his luck that the car he “borrowed” belonged to the
local Police Chief. Since he had
very little experience driving it wasn’t hard for the policeman on foot to catch
up to him. He was again released
into our custody in the middle of the night.
Helping this young man to grow and mature into a “normal” law abiding citizen
was challenging to say the least.
However, after a time we realized that all he really needed was quality
attention. Late one night after
rescuing him from another of his little escapades, Jack told him that he would
actually give him a key to the house if he would just promise to use the front
door the next time he chose to run away.
We were so afraid that he would hurt himself climbing out his
second-story bedroom window. We told him we loved him and was there to help him.
We also told him that he could talk to us any time of the day or night
and if he still wanted to run away after talking with us, we would even take him
wherever it was he wanted to go.
After that night, he never ran away again but often sought the security of our
open arms.
Years later, it was very rewarding to see this young man of ours graduate from the local high school. It was a very proud day and we were happy to be able to share it with him. He even began attending a nearby community college. Shortly after that he moved into his own apartment. We are still in touch with him, and we are very proud of him for doing so well on his own. It is a nice feeling to know that we had a part in helping him to become a responsible, law-abiding citizen.
Sometimes, we too get caught in a rut of doing things that only hurt ourselves. I have learned that when you have times that you feel like running away from it all, run to God. He is waiting with open arms to share His love with you.