health lab
FOSTERING A HOME HEY DADDY!
by gaetano jones I can’t believe it’s now going on five and a half
years since people started calling me “Daddy!” In our community, it isn’t a name I would normally have been happy to hear… and definitely not one I would have embraced. In April 2013 however, all of that changed when I became a foster father of two little girls, a four-month- old infant and a two-year-old toddler. I remember the moment they arrived so clearly. I was staring out my window watching nervously, practically in panic, as a silver minivan parked in front of my house. A woman got out, picking up the sweetest
toddler I had ever seen, and carried her to my door. I opened it, trembling with fear and excitement as I was introduced to the first of two little strangers who would change my life forever. Her eyes were filled with fear and innocent questions: Who was this man? Why am I here? What is going on? Where is my sister? Where is my mother? That first day was the scariest day in my life. I
have never felt so vulnerable and out of control, yet strangely I was totally calm. She was confused too, scared and completely unsure and I knew I had to make her feel safe, comfortable and loved… all in a matter of five minutes. I had to be the most perfect parent in the world and get this child to trust me too, because the next morning we would be picking up her four-month-old sister. Within 24 hours I would go from being a single bachelor, living in West Hollywood, to becoming a full-fledged, rip-up-my-dance-card, certified foster father for these two little girls.
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RAGE monthly | SEPTEMBER 2018
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