Well I've been away from INGO for about a week now but it feels like a month!
It was for good reason, and I now want to introduce someone to my INGO family.
But first a short bit of history.
My wife's Mother has dealt with severe mental illness for the past 15+ years. It accelerated rapidly with the death of my wife's 7-year-old brother from cancer in 2002. Since then her mental health has continue to decline, with her being homeless and transient over the past 5+ years. In 2011, while hitchhiking her way across the US, she became pregnant and had a little girl.
Obviously this troubled my wife and I, as we knew that this child would be in mental and physical danger from the time she was born.
Back in February we received a call from a representative from the State of Alabama, letting us know that the little girl had been removed from my wife's Mother's custody after an altercation at a homeless shelter. As odd as it may sound, we were relieved.
We immediately petitioned for full permanent custody of the child and since that time we've worked hard to make that happen. This included a few trips to AL, hiring an attorney, and keeping in constant contact with the wonderful foster parents that she was assigned to. We also had to allow the State of Indiana to come in to our home and do a full assessment before AL would even consider giving us temporary custody.
Last week, after 6-months in foster care and now 20-months-old, the little girl was finally allowed to come home with us. As of right now it's still a temporary situation, and we go back down to AL to make it permanent in October.
We welcomed her into our family this week as she joins our two boys, 4- and 7-years old. She's already made the rounds to many of our friends and family, and I wanted to introduce her here also. For safety reasons I don't want to make her name public, but know that we are all very excited to bring this sweet girl a new path in life.
I've never had a little girl before, but I know most women like flowers, so I bought her some.
So we're not out of the woods yet, but we've made lots of progress over the last several months. Your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated as we approach court in October. Then we can move on to the pink earpro.
It was for good reason, and I now want to introduce someone to my INGO family.
But first a short bit of history.
My wife's Mother has dealt with severe mental illness for the past 15+ years. It accelerated rapidly with the death of my wife's 7-year-old brother from cancer in 2002. Since then her mental health has continue to decline, with her being homeless and transient over the past 5+ years. In 2011, while hitchhiking her way across the US, she became pregnant and had a little girl.
Obviously this troubled my wife and I, as we knew that this child would be in mental and physical danger from the time she was born.
Back in February we received a call from a representative from the State of Alabama, letting us know that the little girl had been removed from my wife's Mother's custody after an altercation at a homeless shelter. As odd as it may sound, we were relieved.
We immediately petitioned for full permanent custody of the child and since that time we've worked hard to make that happen. This included a few trips to AL, hiring an attorney, and keeping in constant contact with the wonderful foster parents that she was assigned to. We also had to allow the State of Indiana to come in to our home and do a full assessment before AL would even consider giving us temporary custody.
Last week, after 6-months in foster care and now 20-months-old, the little girl was finally allowed to come home with us. As of right now it's still a temporary situation, and we go back down to AL to make it permanent in October.
We welcomed her into our family this week as she joins our two boys, 4- and 7-years old. She's already made the rounds to many of our friends and family, and I wanted to introduce her here also. For safety reasons I don't want to make her name public, but know that we are all very excited to bring this sweet girl a new path in life.
I've never had a little girl before, but I know most women like flowers, so I bought her some.
So we're not out of the woods yet, but we've made lots of progress over the last several months. Your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated as we approach court in October. Then we can move on to the pink earpro.
