Since the kids and Stan were home from school and work on Friday, Eli and I were on an errand and Stan had the rest of them doing some leaf-raking. When we returned we heard that Patrick had visited on his motorcycle.
Patrick is now 19 years old and was placed with our family two years ago for about one year. His placement was full of drama - manipulating parents, missed visits, lies and deceit - and that just made his stay with us that much harder; we were made out to be on the side of the 'bad guys'. We did our best to stick to our family routines and expectations, but were often challenged by the birth family who took their complaints to the county who in turn had to check in to make sure what we were doing in raising our kids was acceptable. So not a real fun placement.
It all ended when Patrick made allegations against us to his parents during a visit in the county office. After being contacted by our Bethany case worker and being cleared of all and any allegations, we made the decision to have Patrick move from our home. And within a week he was back in the home of his parents who live just about one mile from our home.
With all this deceit and upheaval, and with Patrick being vocal about not wanting to live in our house or be a part of our family I would have thought we'd be the last people he'd want to see. But there he was, on his motorcycle in our driveway chatting with Stan about future plans for military service.
So does it matter that we are caring for kids who don't want to be here? Does it matter that manipulation and lies seem to win? Does it matter that we live in a virtual fishbowl and have to defend and explain why we do what we do? Does it matter that there seemed to be no bond between Patrick and our family? Does it matter that he chose to show up at our house on his own for a visit?
Does it matter?
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