From the wrong side of the tracks to the right side of the law.

I come from the wrong side of the tracks. I know what it looks like, what it smells like and what it feels like.  I know the power that alcohol, crystal meth and heroin can hold over entire families. I also know that for whatever reason, those entire families are swallowed up in decades long lines of bad choices made after bad choices followed up by more bad options followed by bad options. It’s a chosen cycle of the lowest common denominator of the spirit, a broken spirit.

I have seen what kids go through in this section of our society.  I helped the kids run away when I could but somehow, they would be dumped right back in with their mom who only cleaned up enough to pass the DHS inspection.  I have invited neighborhood friends over to allow them a respite from their “caring” family …at least there were no late night alcoholic beatings at my house and that looked pretty good to my friends.

I know this area beyond the tracks…and so do both of my kids.

I read the DHS documents. I read the repeated attempts to get bio-mom to just go to rehab and take the path given to her to clean up and even get away from her decades of family mistakes. Then, I read her responses and excuses as to why she ..just didn’t want to…in which I and the judge read as..Take my kids away. Thankfully he did.

The stories that my children’s therapists come back to me with are stories I’ve encountered before. Neglect, abuse, lack of food, both of my children have told me privately the horrors they faced but I’m glad specifically that a trained mental health professional is able to work with them the way that I cant. I can only protect them.

This week that protection comes in the grateful blessings of the people of my state. No longer do the adopted kids from these areas of society have to be jerked around by bio-moms wanted to buck the system at their children’s expense.  The work I did with the Outlier adoption crew and with the legislation offices of my representatives these past Eleven months was difficult but well worth it when I think about how many kids won’t be dragged back into bad situations by a DHS that was blindfolded by bad measures and added on bills.

Long gone are the days where fuck ups and shitty bio-moms can gain from the system while doing horrible harm to their children. Now this human garbage can hurt themselves individually and not continue their rampage against future generations.  Meanwhile, two children and now countless more can grow up in control of their own futures and that makes me a very happy dad indeed