We Were Strangers
Updated: Oct 20, 2019
By Aubree Henderson, Foster Parent
We were strangers.
When we arrived at our apartment, the younger of the kiddos was afraid to go inside and she cowered outside our front door. Her older brother wrapped her in his arms and said “we’re gonna be ok. I'm here with you. It’s going to be ok.” He was four years old. This memory still regularly reduces me to tears, and not in a “wow, how beautiful” way. I am proud of his resilient, loving heart and so, so angry that he has been put in a position to have to be brave and make his sister feel safe without someone to do that for him. . A year later, we are their longest placement yet. I don’t feel right celebrating today because it represents something really, truly broken. But what I can promise to my children, what makes me feel hopeful, is that they will never have to walk through a stranger’s door and call it home again - that if they ever live somewhere else it will be with their mom or dad. That it is our job to keep them safe. That we aren’t going anywhere. And that’s worth celebrating.