Failing our children

We are failing the children of the future by the actions we have allowed through laws today.  I rarely watch the news, however, two nights ago Matt stopped on Anderson Cooper.  He was covering the news on a 9 year old little girl who was sent back to her biological father after several years of being in a stable foster home.  The foster parents were in the process of adopting her.  Her biological dad just came out of jail.  Apparently due to the wonderful laws in his state of Nebraska because his sentence was reduced from 10 years to 8 years he now has the custodial rights to this child.  May I say that I don’t know why he was in jail and don’t care!  This man has been out of her life for years and this young girl has had the chance to have a normal life with folks who love her.  These adoptive parents are heartbroken.  They are devastated.  I don’t know where in a judge’s right mind she can be placed with her sperm donor.  This is the perfect example of laws failing in this country.I don’t normally write about politics.  I live in my own bubble of love, contentment, compassion and happiness.  Recently I have come to see the injustice of what’s considered “human rights.”  When my adopted-mentally challenged-bipolar daughter was a teenager I tried through every venue to get her tubes tide.  I didn’t want to think what would become of her with a child.  She’s barely able to make healthy choices for herself, let alone a child in tow.  Every doctor I visited, including Plan Parenthood, expressed to me that she had “rights.”  In those rights she had to be the one to choose if she wanted the operation.  Mind you, before the age of 18 if she hurt anyone (with her volatile temper and violent demeanor) I would be the one in jail.  Yet, she had the right to make such a life changing decision!   Once she turned 18 years of age she was responsible for herself.  I was able to get her into an assistant living facility.  I never babied her or enabled her to do things for herself.  She’s a survivor.  Now several years later her poor choices have landed her in the hospital beaten by her partner, and a baby to support.  Watching the news I am reminded that this monster of a man could possibly fight for custody of my grand-daughter at some point between his in’s and out’s of jail.  The laws are made by folks who have no clue what it is to be in those sorts of situations.  Let’s get real: the common folk have no say!I don’t know what will become of my daughter and her daughter.  I have no rights as a grandparent.  Apparently it is what it is.  We have to adhere and abide as good citizens of the law.  I have exhausted my own resources to see how she can now get her tubes tide since one child is way too much for her.  Her answer is always the same, “I know my rights.  You can’t make me.”  She does have her human rights memorized.  I must say even without medication she still can focus on those sorts of issues.  Most likely she will end up pregnant again and again while the system supports her with funding, exhausting the tax payer’s money.  It’s a vicious cycle.  I don’t have the money to go fight the State, the Supreme Court, and their appalling laws.  My daughter was adopted from a third world country but her mentality seems to still remain there since the age of 9 when she arrived into my care.  So the next generation continues to run through the cycle of fostering, drugs, prostitution, abuse and everything under the sun that comes with that kind of living.  And, add the chance that her partner chooses to protest against her, he may then have custody of this child.  Apparently the media will cover it and make a sensational story out of the events!I ask, am I the only who sees a desperate call for changing our laws?  What has happened to our society?  If it doesn’t pertain to us we look straight ahead with blinders on like the horses in a race.  I am guilty of this as well.  I figure, I can’t fix the world.  I ended up with six children because I thought I could fix the world one child at a time.  I had schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome, bipolar, learning disabilities, mentally capacities, split personality disorder, narcissistic and detachment disorder just to name a few (and I say this lightly).  There is not one person who can fix all that.  I believed love would help these children.  I believed a healthy home structure would give them all they needed to go out into the world.  The joke has been on me.  Now, I sit with my heart in my hands, praying that no other child falls through the loopholes of our system.  There is no help for our society if we don’t start to make changes through lawmakers.  I have no idea what needs to be done.  I only know we are letting our future generations down.I have a friend who lives in Florida and her daughter and grandchild live in Chicago.  The ex-husband and baby daddy has gone in and out of the courts to make sure that they are prisoners of that city and state.  My friend can’t have them in Florida living with her because the courts have given this self-righteous man the rights to govern the future of these two people.  The rights to be parents have been removed in so many levels.  The rights for teachers to teach have been ignored and overturned.  And, the rights to make healthy choices for our mentally challenged children have been diminished.This morning I stand open hearted praying for a shift in our society.  I have no idea what will become of my daughter and this precious baby girl.  I have no clue what will happen to that little girl who is with a father she didn’t really know in Nebraska while her adopted family is in Tennessee.  I fear that the system will work against us all.  There are times that “human rights” pertain more to those who have the funding to make things happen, than to those who are living the scenarios.  What’s best for everyone?  Who determines what one family should have and another shouldn’t?  I have to believe that there are still folks out in the system looking for a child’s best interest.  That’s my meditation today.  And, that’s all I can hope for while watching the world disappoint one child at a time!the case of Sonya: http://bringsonyahome.com/