Today, we woke up with nothing but the feeling of relief.  The reason being, our latest foster child "Natalie" was granted goal change to adoption.  This feeling is new to us, today we start the first day in years that we do not have to fight for any of our children.  The fight is done, all of them are officially going to be adopted by the end of this year.  We actually just get to sit back now and just enjoy our children without the fear that one of them might be leaving.

For those of you that are not aware of Natalie's journey, she had a very high profile case.  When she was born, she was just about 1 pound at birth.  She spent the entire first year of her life in the hospital, literally it was a miracle she survived the odds.  Once she was released from the hospital at a year old, she went home to her parents.  Unfortunately, the home coming was not as exciting as it should have been.

Natalie and her brother, he by the way is also autistic, was held captive by their own parents.  No one apparently even knew they existed.  Five months after Natalie was released from the hospital the neighbors called DHS to investigate a foul smell coming from the residence.  When DHS arrived with the police and fire department, they ended up breaking down the door to get inside.  There was Natalie in one room, barely alive, just laying there, stuck to her crib.  Her brother, frail in another room, locked away.

Natalie at now 17 months old was rushed to the hospital for an emergency surgery.  Most of her intestines and some of the stomach had to be removed due to the neglect.  She was instantly put on a G tube which took over her belly button.  Of course at this time she was placed in the foster system and her parents were convicted.  That wasn't all though, she was moved from foster home to foster home simply because it was way too much to handle, the doctors expected her to pass away at any moment.

November of 2015, we got the call.  The supervisor of our agency asked us to seriously consider taking on this child.  At the time, we already had 5 children in our home and knew nothing about her medical condition.  The G tube was just removed and was told all she was on is formula, they begged us to take her, said no one else can handle her.  So we agreed, needless to say, after the first week we talked behind closed doors that we can't handle her extreme situation.  

Once we were made aware of how bad she really was medically, plus the fact that she was like a cave man just seeing society for the first time, it was a lot.  But some how, we found the strength to stick with her, we saw how no one else was fighting for her to live.  It became our personal goal to advocate for this child and take control of the case workers and the doctors.  We shouldn't be the only ones fighting for her, right?!?!?!

So now, we have her living the life she should and when her bio was released from prison, at first he wanted her back.  That's not fair!!!!  We fixed what you caused, because you feel vindicated and sorry we should hand over this child after what we have gone through, no way.  So we were ready to fight more, all we have done was what was best for her.  Changed case workers, changed doctors and we were not going to allow this to end with the risk of going back to barely surviving.  

Well yesterday, we did not even have to plead our case.  Her progress in our home with us spoke for itself.  Her dad agreed that she is and always from birth, meant for us.  He actually admitted in court that just because you are biologically connected, does not give you the right to be the parent.  He asked for letters and pictures over the years.  We agreed to share with him her progress as time goes on.  After all, if it wasn't for him, we would not have our little miracle at all.