CHILD: Where she really belongs

What is family? This is a question that has entered my mind many times as a colleague of mine has struggled to keep her family together.

A fellow teacher of mine, Andrea Butler, has a kind heart and giving personality. Five years ago she demonstrated this when she took in an 8-month-old baby to foster. Andrea loved her foster daughter, Dee, and wanted nothing more than to love and care for this child when no one else could. Andrea was hopeful that she could adopt Dee when Dee’s biological family gave up their rights to her. Idaho’s Health and Welfare system allowed Andrea to care for Dee, and continue to create a mother-daughter bond until Dee turned 5.

Recently, Idaho’s Health and Welfare system deemed that it would be better for Dee to live with distant relatives who have had minimal involvement in Dee’s first five years of life. To make matters worse, these biological family members do not provide a stable environment for this heart-sick young girl. Still, Idaho’s Health and Welfare Department maintains that Dee is better off being with “family” despite the fact that a child psychologist recommended Dee not be removed from Andrea’s home as it would cause “irreparable damage.”

Again I ask, what is family? In my opinion, families are people who take care of each other and love each other, even when no one else will. That is what Andrea was doing for Dee until the state intervened. It seems the job of the Department of Health and Welfare should be to look out for the child’s best interest, not blindly follow rules to the detriment of a child.

KATIE KIRKBRIDE

Hayden