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Lilly's StoryFictional story based on true events We meet Lilly as a beautiful 6 year old girl. She has an older brother Carl who is 9 and a younger sister Savanna who is 4. She is a happy child that is doing well in school and has many friends. One day Lilly’s dad looses his job. He becomes angry and more and more discouraged that he can not find a new job that will allow him to provide for his family. Finally, he becomes so discouraged that he just leaves, not for a night, or even a week, he is just gone … never to return. In the wake of his departure, Lilly’s mom is left to try and take care of 3 kids by herself. Her older brother is now angry that his dad left and starts getting in fights at school and with his mom. Lilly’s mom tries and tries to meet the needs of the family but it get harder each day. Lilly starts getting in trouble at school and on top of all of it, Lilly’s sister gets sick. Stressed out and tired, Lilly’s mom turns to the one place she shouldn’t, drugs. First, it is just for some extra energy, but then she gets hooked. She starts leaving the kids alone all night, and then it is two and three days at a time. Lilly in now 8, Carl is 11 and Savanna is 6. They start coming to school dirty, they no longer have friends and they start stealing food from the lunchroom at school in order to have food for diner. A teacher notices the changed behavior and calls the Department of Human Resources. DHR sends a social worker to the house to investigate. The worker finds the house a total wreck. The mom meets her at the door and tries to make a good impression, but the three feet of trash in the kitchen and the smell of dirty dishes in the sink tell her there are problems. The social worker makes the mother take a drug test as part of the normal procedure and when it comes back positive she takes the kids into custody. Because no family members are available, DHR immediately tries to find a Foster Parent that can take all three kids but to no avail. The kids have to be split up. Lilly and Savanna are taken to the Doe family and Carl is taken to the Jones in the next town. Lilly and Savanna are confused. They do not understand why they are in a strange place. They are sad because they have to try and go to sleep without their favorite blankets and teddy bears that their dad gave them just before he left. The Doe’s seem nice and try to settle them in to their new life. Carl on the other hand is not handling the changes well at all. He yells at Mr. Jones and threatens to run away. Because of his emotional outbursts, he undergoes a psychological evaluation and is diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. He is put on medication and is moved from the Jones’ house to a Therapeutic Foster Home because the Jones’ can not manage his behavior. Making matters worse this change cuts off all contact with his sisters because the Therapeutic home is in the next county. But Lilly, is working through the issues and she thinks it may be okay. She is growing up and starts to develop into a young lady. Then one day when Mr. Doe takes her fishing and touches her inappropriately. On top of it he threatens to do the same thing to Savanna if Lilly tells anyone. Lilly starts becoming more and more withdrawn. She no longer has any friends and looks empty. One day Lilly has had enough of the “touching†and confides in her Sunday School teacher about what is happening but because of Mr. Doe’s position at the church, no one believes her. The next day the social worker shows up at the house to tell Lilly and Savanna that they are moving to a new house because they are no longer wanted due to the accusations against Mr. Doe. Lilly and Savanna are introduced to the James family and their 12 year old daughter Jill. Lilly starts to put her guard down and let them in. Savanna is so young that she is resilient and doing very well. They seem so nice and life seems better. Lilly though is starting to grow and needs some new clothes. Mrs. James contacts DHR and asks for some money to buy some clothes but the social worker tells her that Lilly’s small board pay needs to cover clothes and that they do not have any more money out for clothes for the rest of the year. So Mrs. James takes Lilly to the local thrift store to find some clothes that fit better but not very well because they do not have her perfect size. They stop by the Mall on the way home to get Jill a few things. It hurts Lilly’s feelings but she keeps pressing on. The James’ then start quietly talking about a family vacation to Disney. Lilly is so excited because she has never been before. But the more she hears the more she realizes that this vacation is just for the James’s and Lilly and Savanna are going to stay with a stranger while they are out of town. She asks Mrs. James why and she tells her that this is just a “family†vacation. Again Lilly is hurt but at least she is not being “touched†anymore. Savanna is so much younger that she is unaware of everything going on. So Lilly is again feeling alone. We next meet up with Lilly a few years later when she is 12. Carl is now 15 and Savanna is 10. Lilly has just found out that her mom has had another baby and that the baby is in foster care as well. But she is hurt because she can not see her sister because another family is going to be able to adopt it. She is told that the Judge in the county where the baby was born has terminated her mom’s rights to the baby so that it can be adopted but that the judge in their county has not decided yet what he wants to do with Lilly and Savanna. Carl is continuing to struggle with the whole situation. He has times that he is doing really well. He gets encouragement from the social workers and counselors that if he can continue to do well he can move back into a normal foster family (and maybe back with Lilly and Savanna). But as soon as he starts doing really well, his Foster Parents start exaggerating issue in the house and the cycle starts all over again. Finally, he is moved into a Group home with 7 other boys that have many of the same issues. Carl feels alone and so sad. He questions what he must have done to deserve for his family to fall apart. It had to be his fault. Then when he thought things couldn’t get any worse he wakes up to find his roommate doing lewd things to him. Because of fear of being hurt of even killed, he just lays there. Lilly is really starting to have issues with how “the system†is treating their family. Why can’t she live with Carl. Why can’t she be adopted? Then it gets worse. One day the social worker comes to take some hair from her and Savanna. It seems that a lady called the social worker and claims that she is Savanna’s biological grandmother (but not Lilly’s). So a DNA test is completed and yes its true Savanna and Lilly have different fathers. The lady wants Savanna to come live with her but because Lilly is not related to her so she is not welcome. So now the entire family is split up and Lilly has no hope! We meet Lilly for the final time at age 18. The judge has decided to emancipate her. The social worker comes to help her pack up and give he the $200 check required by law. The social worker and the James’ wish her well and Lilly walks down the sidewalk no longer as a Foster Child. Completely alone, she has no idea where Carl or Savanna are. She has no one to spend the holidays with, no one to encourage her through life’s excitements or turmoil’s. She has no where to turn except for that thing that she has hated her whole life, that thing that destroyed her family. She has to numb the pain. So the cycle begins again … What can break the cycle? What can make kids whole? HOPE. LOVE. ENCOURAGEMENT. FAMILY. JESUS!
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