Our daughter and her husband have had a foster son in their home for almost 4 years. Brandon was just past 2 years old when they took him in. He had had very little parenting and was a very difficult child to take care of. However, in the past 3+ years, Sharon , who is a teacher, has worked very hard getting Brandon to settle down. They have taught him how to behave and have given him lots of love and attention. The system has drug this out for all these years because they wanted the family reunited, even though Brandon's parents did nothing to change their lifestyle - the father was using drugs and could not keep a job and the mother would not leave an abusive relationship. Yesterday, it was ruled in court to change the goal to termination of parental rights. And the parents were not at the hearing. Hopefully, Brandon will not have to live in limbo much longer and Sharon and Marvin can start planning for Brandon's future. As I write this, I am both happy and sad. Happy for our daughter, but sad for the parents, because they have passed an opportunity to raise a wonderful little boy. He is bright and talented and full of the devil and he calls me Mema.

Vi