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 It was the middle of a summer night when the police answered a call from a neighbor and found three small, thin children alone in the yard outside their home. The youngest child, only a year old, was still crawling, and her 4-year old sister, Anna, her face worn by stress, was keeping her away from a broken glass bottle. These three little children were taking care of each other — outside — in the middle of the night!
The officers knocked on the door of the house, but there was no answer. One officer could see two adults sleeping through a crack in the window curtain — a man and a woman — and alcohol and drugs on the table in front of them. So the officers opened the door and made an arrest. The three children, in their diapers and underwear, were taken to our shelter.
The staff immediately bathed the tiny children and dressed them in clean clothes. The children barely took interest in their surroundings as they fell asleep weak and exhausted. Their faces were so tired and their bodies so frail — as children of drug addicts, they had been deprived of so much in their young lives.
No matter what the reason for the parents’ drug use, no child should have to suffer these devastating consequences of neglect!
Generally, children do not stay long at the Jefferson House, but it was hard to find a foster placement for three tiny siblings. Over the next few months, the children received special dietary supplements to restore the strength they lost from poor nutrition. As their bodies grew stronger, their eyes brightened and their expressions transformed from stress to smiles.
They loved the food and Anna was always eager to help set the table.
As their caseworker continued to search for an appropriate placement, the staff handled diaper changes, teething rings, broken toys and temper tantrums. They were rewarded with so many signs of progress — the first time the baby ate solid foods and the first unsteady steps she took. Anna’s first pretty dress with matching sandals, and the first full sentences spoken by her brother. The children shared so many “firsts” with staff, rather than with their parents.
It was months later that the three children were placed with a wonderful foster family — months for the children to thrive — and months for the staff to grow attached. The day the children left, it took the staff a long time to say goodbye to the happy faces that had generously shared so many precious “firsts.” But the true reward was in watching the children toddle away full of life — rescued and renewed and ready for a better future.
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