Alignments

Chapter 14

"Ms. Jackson, do you understand the situation here?" The social worker spoke to her.

"Yeah, whatever. Just get it over with." Janet sat back in the chair looking at her nails.

"I just want to make sure that you understand what happens depending on this phone call."
The fifteen year old rolled her eyes.

"I don't know why we're making this call anyway."

"It's part of the process. They may have changed their minds." Janet smacked her lips.

"Yeah right."

"Janet...."

"Can we just get this over with?" The social worker looked at the teenager. It broke her heart to see this. The woman who handled her case previously was fired because she had gone too far to protect her, but she had watched their interactions over the past eight years and to see this sweet girl turn so....cold, hurt her heart. She had been through so much pain and it was unfair. She remembers how much that family wanted to adopt her, but couldn't because of some dumb woman's actions. This is why she did this job, because despite everything that these children go through, she wanted to be a safe space for them and as much as Janet didn't want to admit it, she felt safe when she came to the social services office.

These were the most consistent people in her life and she did have some type of love for them, but she knew that at some point life goes on and they move onto other children. She knew that she was just a number to these people. So it really didn't matter how much she loved them. They didn't view her with the same feelings, except for Ms. S. and now she is gone. The last person she had was gone and she had quickly learned that she was alone in this world. "Janet, I want you to know that good things can still happen. You just have to have..."

"Can we....get this over with? I have other and much better things to do." Janet stared blankly at the woman. She sighed and picked up the phone. While dialing the number, she felt all of the nerves in her body shake. She was praying hard that this goes the way she needed it to.

"Hello." The woman answered the phone in an annoyed tone.

"Hi, is this Juanita Jackson?"

"Yeah. Who is this and why you calling me?"

"This is Shondra Mitchell with child protective services and we...." The woman groaned.

"I thought I made it to where y'all wouldn't call me about that girl. What do yall want?"

"Well, we wanted to call and inform you that Janet is in the process of becoming emancipated and as part of the process we are obligated to give you and her father one more chance to regain your parental rights." The woman laughed.

"This has got to be a prank. How'd yall get my number?" Shondra picked up a notepad.

"We got it for your place of employment.
Umm...."

"Damn. Are yall gonna be calling me all the time now?"

"No..." Shondra set the notepad down, unknowingly hitting the button that put the phone on speaker. "But Ms. Jackson, you are being offered a chance to regain custody before your daughter is emancipated. Is there any possibility that you and your husband will...."

"Hell naw." Janet continued to pick at her fingers and nails. "We signed over our parental rights for a reason. If I wanted them I would've kept them and her. She can do whatever she wants. I don't care. Just stop calling me." The phone hung up. Shondra looked up at Janet as she hung the phone up.