Help Care for Baby Girl!

Update 6.24 - Thank you so much to everyone who is contributing! I'm getting a lot of 'congratulations on becoming a foster parent'. I feel like I have to clarify. We did not elect to become foster parents. This is a sweet sweet baby and we are honored to keep her happy and safe. But this wasn't a choice we sought out or even expected. We had a few hours notice before she arrived at our house.

I commend those folks who do have the capacity in their lives to choose to become a foster home. We did not have capacity. It was a crisis situation. It is still a crisis. We felt we didn't have a choice.

We had a prior relationship with this baby. We are technically a family placement. It was an emergency. It was us or she would go into the already completely overwhelmed foster system. It was us or they were going to start calling numbers on the Manchester foster call list. We couldn't let that happen, so we chose to take her. I don't regret the choice. I'd do it again and again.

I guess I'm clarifying because I don't want people to think I would go through the process of becoming a licensed foster home and then turn around and ask for other people's money. I usually don't care what people think, but this is different and I'm tired AF. We were not ready for a baby. Being a 'family' placement makes it more challenging for us to receive financial support from the state, precisely because we are not technically foster parents. We're working on that!

I am hoping with all my might that her parents get better. In the meantime, we couldn't have done this without the strong, supportive community we have around us and we are so thankful.

Anyway, that's the story. I'm removing her name and photos of her face, after thinking harder about the implications. Love you all. She's safe with us, and that is an honor and a privilege. The gifts of sobriety, as they say. xo

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Monica & Tim are the new caregivers of an unbelievably sweet and somewhat needy 18 month old little girl.

Needless to say, this transition has been a lot. We were scheduled to move out of our current home before July 1. The plan was to move into our new yurt with our three grown boys, and do some roughing it for the summer while we build our new house. Our dear friends / landlords have given us an extra month. But still, we need to adjust the plan big time.

We all know how plans go…

Monica has a brand new, demanding full time job. Tim will need to take time off to build the house, but now also to care for this sweet baby girl. We don’t know how long she’ll be living with us, but it is for the foreseeable future.

The outpouring of support has been tremendous. Hoards of people are asking how they can help. So we thought this is the easiest way to receive that help.

To be clear, we are blessed with more privilege than many. Our needs are met. We don’t need any more *things*. Friends and family have already given us the baby infrastructure (car seat, stroller, crib, high chair, clothing) and we are trying to downsize for the move. However, this adds a whole new level of challenge and expense to our lives. We can use all the help we can get.

Spread the word if you like. Thank you. It truly does take a village.