My best friend lives between Houston and Galveston. I am still waiting for word that they are OK and how their home is after Hurricane Ike.
This got me to thinking about the kids in foster care in Galveston and Houston. Galveston is a city, no actually an island with a population of approximately 57,000 people. They have foster homes. Galveston was under mandatory evacuations before Hurricane Ike and for those who stayed behind they are now forced from their homes due to flooding and damage.
This puts the kids in foster care into yet another state of transition, and a major one at that. They have had to leave the home they were living in and leave their few possessions behind. Having seen the pictures of the destruction, it will be quite some time before many of these families are going to even be able to think about rebuilding their homes, much less return to any sort of normal life.
I cannot begin to imagine what they are feeling. I am anxiously waiting to hear from my friend, Sonya, and I am not living in the middle of this mess. The sense of powerlessness is amazing. I cannot simply will my phone to ring, nor can I will it to be answered on the numerous times I have tried to call. Imagine what these children feel. As adults, we have far more resources than these children do. I know Sonya’s in-laws and am trying to reach them as well as trying to reach her husband’s work. All of this is in vain, but I will continue to try.
What do these children know about their birth parents? Do they have any idea where they were, or if they were safe when this hurricane hit? The destruction of this hurricane spanned a large area, causing destruction in downtown Houston, which is 50 miles north of where Ike hit in Galveston. Even if these children were in foster care in Galveston, that doesn’t mean that’s where their birth parents were. The Houston area is huge, encompassing more than 4 million people. Their parents could live anywhere in that area with the children having no clue where they are or how to get any information about them. What about biological siblings? I know my kids would be worried about their siblings.
The anxiety of these kids has gotten to be incredible. Between yet another move, the uncertainty of where they will be living for the next several months, and the questions they likely have about biological family members I’m sure their minds are working over time. In addition, their entire routines have been changed drastically. Normal things like school are not going to be happening any time soon.
On the flip side, there are certainly birth parents who are wondering about their children. Some parents know where their child’s foster home is, but not all do. Personally, at this point I’d rather know where my child was living than to have to wonder if they were directly in the path of this storm or in a safer area. I talked to a friend on the west side of Houston and they sustained minimal damage, so there are areas where children would not have to be out of their homes for long, but a birth parent may not know if their child is in that area or in an area that sustained heavy damage.
My heart goes out to everyone who is dealing with this and those living in uncertainty right now.
