Andrew...

Smiley faces mean a lot to me. Thank you!

Just an FYI... we raised this little bugger for three years. His parents were never married. His mother is an alcohol abusin, Atlanta social "butterfly" who admits to abusing prescription drugs and his father is an unstable, emotionally challenged, good hearted but easily influenced man who has made a ton of wrong decisions in his life. They both lost custody of Andrew during the period of time that we had him. We love the little guy and he deserves a chance to grow up in a loving home.

In 2004 the State of Washington decided to give Andrew's mother a second chance and returned him to her in Atlanta. True to form his mother continued to drink, abuse prescription drugs and otherwise party on. Andrew was removed from her custody and put into a foster home where he remains today. J and I are posturing to get him back. Things are, so far, going our way though there's still that "maternal bond" that the government seems to think is best for the child... regardless of the affect of the mother's lifestyle on the child.

The latest... Child Protection Services in Washington State is working with their Georgia counterparts to place him back in our care. We've been told this is a lengthy process but are willing to "sit it out" for as long as it takes until he can come home again. We can't even imagine how the past two years have affected Andrew. His mother's battle to get him back only to subject him to the horrors of alcoholism and drug addiction. He's impressionable and so innocent at his age right now... just over 4 years old. Hopefully both state's governments will "wake up" and get past that "natural mother, natural father" experiment and get him back to us where he's loved and will be positively affected.

There's a lot of work to be done.

Sunday, February 13, 2005 8:03:08 AM