WE HAVE A HUGE PRAYER REQUEST!
This summer during camp, we had SEVERAL foster kids come into our lives at camp. Some were tough kids, some were good kids, some were just normal kids. One kid stood out to us. I can't name him on here, so let's just refer to him as Buddy. Buddy is 17 years old today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) and has been in foster care for a really long time. He has been bounced around quite a bit from place to place, some at his own fault. He doesn't always make smart choices, however, he is 17 with no real parental influence and nobody has taught him the things kids need to be taught, so we don't look down on him for that. Buddy came the first week of camp to our Teen Week session and did so good, our staff asked us to try to find a way to bring him back for our leadership program, and God worked that all out (that's an awesome thing in my opinion!)
Todd and I started talking about how our family could be involved in Buddy's life. Because of our two AMAZING kids, we don't feel right about adopting him just yet. Because he has come from a pretty tough life, we do not want to endanger our most valuable babies. We found out about getting into a mentorship program. It is an awesome way to get involved in the lives of those who need us. You can be a major role in a child's life before jumping into adoption (which can be the end result if you are led that way!) Our program is Community Partnership for Children, I encourage you to check them out or see if there is a program in your area like it. We were in the process of trying to find out more about the program and get involved when Buddy ran away from his group home. He was staying in a very hard home, and got in trouble for drinking alcohol (wasn't a good choice we agree). It was dealt with in not the best of way and he got fed up with being there and decided to run away. After a week of being gone, he had talked to some of our camp counselors, and then they told us what was going on. Some how he got in touch with Todd (my husband). He wanted us to come get him and let him stay with us and he was hungry. Of course, me being the emotional one, wanted to run and get him right away. But we both knew that wasn't the smartest choice, so on Saturday, we started a long and crazy process of calling a million different people!
First I tried calling and texting his group home administrators. Then I called and text a lady who contacted us trying to adopt him. We then got in contact with his main case worker and two courtesy case workers (he is from a different county, so while here, he gets assigned a courtesy case worker so his main one doesn't have to drive back and forth). All this is on the weekend remember, so not in "normal business hours". The one consistent thing we were being told (they all had different information) was that we needed to contact the Sheriff's department. So we did. We amazingly got a very nice deputy who called us on Saturday and talked for a bit. She had worked with troubled teens before becoming a deputy. She told us that legally, we could not pick him and bring him home, it would be harboring a minor run away (not sure if that was the exact legal term) but we could feed him and talk to him. We needed to try to convince him to turn himself in, which in doing so, just removes him from the missing person registry. We were literally on the phone with SOOOO many people most of Saturday. On Sunday after church, we met him for lunch and then took him to Walmart to get a few groceries and a toothbrush and toothpaste. We did our best to convince himself to turn himself in, but he was very scared. He was scared of cops, he was scared of going back to the group home, he was scared of not being able to stay in contact with us, and he was scared of having a crummy birthday. We did not feel like we should force him (the deputy even told us we could lose his trust in that way and kids like this really need adults they can trust). We asked him to really think hard about turning himself in on Monday. We ran into another young man who used to live in the same home and got adopted. He pretty much said EXACTLY what we were saying. God was moving. After we left Buddy, I called the case worker. She was pretty upset with us for not taking him to the police immediately. I was just about in tears after that phone conversation because we wanted so badly to help Buddy and to do it the right way, that is why we were constantly on the phone updating every one we knew to!
On Monday, I got a phone call from an AMAZING woman from Community Partnership for Children (CPC) who works in the mentorship program. It was a HUGE answer to prayer! She is someone who we felt like finally understood the situation and wanted to help Buddy! She encouraged us to really do everything we could to try to get him to turn himself in. So we immediately went to work trying to get him to contact us again. At 2:00 he called Todd and said if we came now, he was ready to turn himself in. He was about 45 mins-1hr away, so we immediately left and went to him. We called our friend at CPC and she was amazing. She started helping us call people and figuring out what comes next. I called the case worker, didn't go so well, so she took over that for us. She met us at a McDonald's to talk to us and Buddy. We then went from there to the police station (which she went with us, didn't have to I might add! This lady went so far above and beyond her job!!!). We got there shortly after they closed so had to go through a million other people and crazy process. Finally some cops came. Poor Buddy was scared. Remember, cops really made him uneasy. We tried to get it so we could be fingerprinted, checked, home checked out so he could stay with us until a placement was found. Case worker wasn't really working with us. Long story short (not that this is short, haha) he ended up having to ride in the back of a cop car (heartbreaking to see a child get put in the back of a car) and taken to a shelter. The cops who came were amazing though, they helped him feel at ease. They were willing to let Todd ride in the back of the car if need be (Buddy by the end felt comfortable enough to go alone) and play music in the car and drive fast with lights on a deserted street to make it look fun (as fun as possible at least).
Today is his birthday. We have no idea where he is right now. It all goes in the hands of his case worker. Our friend at CPS is calling her and everyone she can to find out where he is and keep us in contact. Today, even though its not even lunch, has been a hard day with tears included. We have some things we really need our wonderful prayer warriors to be praying for!
- Buddy doesn't have a Bible. We are working at getting him one with his name on it. Before he turned himself in, we talked about this and him reading at least one chapter of Proverbs every day. PRAY WE ARE ABLE TO KNOW WHERE TO SEND IT
- We don't know where Buddy is or if we are able to get back in contact with him. PRAY THAT IT WILL WORK OUT SO WE HAVE SOME FORM OF CONTACT WITH HIM SOON! AND THAT IT WILL BE A CONSTANT CONTACT.
- One of our big hopes, is he will be transferred to a group home in our area. Because he has been bounced around and ran away, that limits the places he is allowed to. We would love for him to be in a Christian group home with loving people. PRAY HE GETS TRANSFERRED TO A GOOD HOME CLOSE BY
- There are a lot of people around Buddy who think he is a lost cause and that he is hopeless. In Christ, there is no such thing, PRAY THAT THROUGH ALL THIS, HE KNOWS THERE IS HOPE AND LOVE IN CHRIST AND ITS UNCONDITIONAL AND UNFAILING.
- Today is his birthday, if you could say a quick prayer that something little happens just to make him feel special today, that would be nice.
- MOST OF ALL, PRAY GOD KEEPS HIS HANDS ON BUDDY AND FOR HIS WILL IN ALL OF THIS!
Thank you to those of you who I know will be praying. If any of you have any advice on what we need to do to help our special friend, we are open to it!
