Two Souls, Many Storms

Month to Month

The next week goes by quickly. Its a series of appointments both phsyical and psychological. The girls meet with law guardians and the police as well. Cps makes a few visits and note that Macy sleeps in the same room as Liza but its explained she wants to. They also talk to Shannon and I about the rules and ask for a list of people who may watch them given my job. We have decided on Rowdy and Chip or another couple we are close to Rocky and his wife Shandy. Real name by thee way and as sweet as can be. 

Liza finds out she is twelve weeks along, so a bit further then she could have even guessed. She got to or we got to see a heartbeat. All four of us were in the room and we all had different reactions. Shannon was stunned, Macy was excited and intrgued to see what the tech pointed out, Liza was quiet but kept rubbing her still flat belly, and me? I dont know what I was. I think I felt everything and then some. 

Liza asked to call the cps worker after the scan and I gave her the number and cordless phone and shut my office door to give her privacy. She came out not more then five minutes later in tears and shoved the phone into my hand. I heard a voice on the other end and said hello.

"Hi this is Ms. Hannon I just wanted to let you know that we will be there to pick up Liza sometime tomorrow" Whoa wait a minute.

"Why?" I asked a little irritated. We did nothing wrong.

"Well you see she has decided to parent and I feel that at this time its best for her to be in a home with other teen moms" Wait what? Huh?

"I disagree. She is safe here and my partner and I are just fully behind what ever decision she makes. She needs time to think. In a little over a week she was removed from her home, found out she was pregnant and a mired of other things. Give her time" I tell this woman who is not the same person we have been dealing with I might add.

"Yes well we have a way of doing things here and when a teen girl is deciding to parent we want them to see what its like to parent, to have counseling and classes to teach how, so again I will be picking her up tomorrow" 

"And what choice do I have?" I ask

"I suppose you can request to become her guardian but do you really want to do all that for a child you just met" 

"You bet your ass I do. I may have just met her and Macy but I love them. They are amazing girls and need a stable home together. Did you ever think of that?"

"Siblings are split apart all the time, its best for Liza to get a taste of the real world." She said. Umm yeah this bitch need a reality check

"Okay I can see we are not getting anywhere today so when your boss gets in tomorrow morning please have him give me a call."

"Of course please ask Liza to have her things packed" She said to me. 

"Please have your boss call me before you come out" I ask again firmly.

After we hang up I find Shannon and we go and talk to the girls who are in there room cuddled on the bed crying. We try to assure them that we will do out best to make sure that tomorrow does not happen in the way Ms. Shannon said it would but if Liza does leave tomorrow we will file what ever it is that needs to be done to get her back. They are broken and scared and it sucks that there is nothinig we can do to stop this but we till do our best. 

Six am came early but I got up with dread and a fake  smile. I had calls to make and at exactly eight o one I was leaving messages. By eight fifteen i was on the phone with the  supervisor and had some answers. Not the ones i wanted but some never the less. Tally and I asked to meet that day with not only the law guardian but the supervisor and the ego centric know it all from last night. We are granted the meeting and make plans to send the girls to hang in the pool with Rowdy and her crew. The family environment would be good for them as well as to hang out with some kids there age. 

At one pm we have more cars in our drive then we ever have. It looks like a party but felt like a funeral. Tally and I started out with showing the house and we walked across the street and seen the girls. They were having a blast in the pool and chatting with everyone. They were safe and happy and I nudged Tally and whispered about Lizas belly. In a swimsuit its noticeable. After the workers talked with the girls for a few minutes we went back to the house and offered them drinks and snacks. 

Then it was time to chat. Tally and I started out with this "When we decided that we wanted to open our home to teens we never imagined that the first ones we met would be ones that pulled at our hearts like Liza and Macy do. We knew we would love each one like they were our own but we also knew they were not ours forever. They were ours for the moment. Liza is smart and funny, she loves to cook. Macy is quiet and often found drawing or reading, she loves science and asks lots of questions. Thats what we know so far but we want to know more. We are aware that its the departments protocol to place pregnant teens in a group home type setting but thats not what we feel is best for Liza or Macy. They are really close and love each other. We would like to ask that before you make that choice to rip her out of our home that you give us a chance to prove that we are whats best for them, that we can do whats best. We will do anything and everything. If we need to take more classes we will. Any appointments or classes she needs we will do it, for Macy as well. We will set aside our jobs or what ever it is that you ask for to let Liza stay." by the time I am done I am out of breath. 

The law guardian asks some questions on our experience with teens or babies? She asks what we know about kids with trauma and sexual abuse and a bunch of other stuff. Tally proudly points our the classes she took in psycology and proves it. She has a degree which is something I didndt know. Its not in psycology but it had a empasis on it. Her courses also included early child hood development and others based on ptsd and such. My woman is not only beautiful but smart. 

We are asked about long term type stuff such as a nursery and our ability to help care for a infant. Tally and I dont have the answer but do explain that we could add on a few rooms. There is space off our livingroom that would be feasable. Ms. Know it all from last night tried to make us look stupid but it didn't work. She threw questions at us and we threw the answers right back and when we couldnt the law guardian helped with how and where we get what is needed. 

The outcome of the meeeting was not what we wanted but its not the worst case scenario either. When we told the girls with there law guardian what the plan was they hugged us tight. Tally and I would have to take a few classes and the girls staying here would be a month by month bases. We were given a time line of what we had to do and what was expected of us. 

The four of us celebrated with a trip to chucky cheese. It was a quiet night and we had no wait times. The pizza was shit but the fun was real. We took turns taking pictures and had a ball. After our fun we got ice cream then home. It felt cool to be a family even if we were month by month.