Finding Forever

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

Maria sat in the caseworkers office, listening to her talk about two young girls. Natasha and Yelena.

"Natasha is eleven. She is a very sweet girl. She is very quiet and anxious but we hope with some love she will blossom into an amazing little girl." The caseworker spoke while maria listened intently. "And Yelena is such a sweetheart. She's six years old and loves all things bright and colourful. Previous fosters have said that Yelena warms up much quicker than Natasha, and that Yelena doesn't settle at all well without her elder sister." The caseworker went on, showing Maria photos of their cute little faces.

"They have an amazing bond, they really do."
"How long have they been in care for?" Maria asked, looking at the photos and files. "They've been in care for five years, Yelena was barely one. Whenever separated from each other both sisters get very upset, acting out and crying. Ideally they would be taken together, but it doesn't always work out that way."

"I would love to take them both." Maria said before even thinking about it. Her heart went out to them both. "That's amazing! I will be able to get them to you later on tonight, maybe six in the evening?" The caseworker asked and Maria nodded. "Do you know anything about their previous home life?" Maria asked.

"Although we don't know their whole story as their previous caseworker disappeared after they had been placed together, they were both found in an abandoned house together with early records on file, but nothing helpful. We placed them with a couple but it didn't work out. They went between group homes and getting separated to going into the same foster home. I don't know details but they were removed from there after a neighbour made noise complaints." The caseworker said.

Maria's heart swelled, these poor girls. "What about the boy?"
"He ended up running away a few months later after being placed in a separate home." That shattered Maria's heart and she wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye.

"I will take them. Do they have any clothes? Do they need anything?" She asks, prepared to go shopping for them both. "Yelena was never toilet trained so she sometimes has accidents both while awake and asleep, more when she's asleep than awake, but she's learning." The caseworker explained. "They have a few clothes but I don't know what size they are so I would wait until you can go shopping with them."

"Thank you. I will see them at six." Maria said, carefully standing and making her way to her car. As soon as she got in and locked the door she started to sob. These poor girls had gone through so much, probably more than the caseworker was aware of. She just wanted to make it better for them.

She made her way to the store after composing herself, grabbing some things for them, including pull ups for Yelena.

She then went home, getting to work on changing the bedsheets and moving the beds so the girls were sharing a room. She knew sometimes with siblings sometimes separating them would only do more damage. Yelena had a single bed with little barrier to stop her falling out. It had unicorn sheets and a stuffed Dino resting by the pillow for her.

Natasha had a small double bed had grey sheets. Maria had given her a little bunny teddy, hoping that she would like it. She also gave both girls a little hamper with some fun things in in case they needed anything. It contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, roll on deodorant for Natasha and some spray/ perfume for both of them. A hairbrush for them each, a soft blanket, Natasha's had some pads and tampons too, just in case she needed some and didn't want to ask maria.

Both girls got a large shirt and a pair of underwear, in case they didn't have anything to wear and needed pyjamas. Yelena's had some small toys in it, as well as some colouring pens and a colouring book. Natasha's had a little notebook and a pen, as well as a few books for if she liked reading. Maria left them both on the feet of their beds before preparing the next thing.