Thursday, April 25, 2013

This morning my midwifery partner called from the birth center to talk about one of our homeless moms who delivered a few hours ago. She and the adoption agency haven't notified the parents she's picked out yet so the agency person has said the mom and baby need to wait a few days for the prospective family to get their bearings. WTF. This is a homeless mother. That in itself is effed up. She's been living in a van.

She and her friend have saved money so she can go to a hotel for a few days to recover from the birth. This is a resourceful woman who has three other kids all with adoptive families. I won't go into the details but we have enormous respect for her and her choices. Dealing with CPS, the foster care system and the adoption agencies is horrible and frustrating. She takes good care of herself when she's pregnant and she has open adoptions so she can visit her children which she does weekly. So we'll get the name of the hotel, keep track of her with daily visits and hope the adoptive family gets it together to receive her child ASAP.

I hate this society that has scant support for poor women, disabled women, women like this mother who does the best she can. The best she can. At least she found her way to us so she can  be cared for  respectfully and with kindness.

She'll be back again with another pregnancy, I suspect.

There are so many stories. So many.

4 comments:

Radish King said...

Oh god Beth this is about as awful as awful can get. I wish I had room for them at my house.
xo

Ms. Moon said...

Yeah. Okay. Let's outlaw abortion but at the same time, let us cut funds for anything to do with a child and his or her mother after the birth.
It's such a cliche but it's true. Our country is really perverted in our priorities.
And WTF with the adoption agency? I mean... really- WTF?

beth coyote said...

Bless both of you.

Love, Beth

Marylinn Kelly said...

Just love. All I can add. Love. xo