KC at 5 or 6 getting into the holiday spirit. He is very much my "Mr. Christmas" Today we had festively shaped pizza bites courtesy of my amazing chef son Rob, and all watched the movie Elf. I love that movie. I remember taking Rob to the cinema to see it with is friend when it first came out. And laughing. And laughing. We still laugh like crazy watching it, but it is also sort of a sweet and tender movie.
Yet as we were all in our living room watching it, my heart is filled with worry for a teen in our area. The young fellow lived where I work for most of his childhood. When he was about 14 his family moved out of the property, but he often came back on his own to visit with our office staff. He missed the site. He missed us.
Yesterday he came in, I thought to visit. But instead it was because his mother has opted to move out of state and leave him here. He is 17. Who does that to their child? This is not even a kid who is especially troubled or challenging to parent. Our state does not have a legal emancipation process (he all ready checked into it) so he is left in legal limbo. Unable to sign a contract, he is couch surfing between relatives homes. He can't stay in any one home too long or risk that families housing assistance. This bothers me at so many levels. Families are forever and I can never imagine leaving ANYWHERE while my kids are growing up and leaving them behind.
I can't imagine missing seeing my kids senior prom outfit or graduation-assuming this boy can do any or all of these things with the chaos of his life right now. I have reached out to a friend who runs a teen program in the city where we go to church to find out if she knows of any benefits that we can hook the kid up with. Of course what I really feel like doing is bringing him home. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment