The Sounding of the Halls

When bio parents are no shows…

God is clearly using our foster parents to bring love and hope to some of the hardest places and most difficult situations. As Amanda, one of our foster mom's recounts, (please read to the end to be encouraged)

"There is an event that takes place every so often in the foster care world that absolutely crushes me. When a case leads to the Termination of Parental Rights, and the parents don't show up to the court hearing. When this happens the judge requests a 'sounding of the halls.' The bailiff then opens the door to the court room and very loudly calls out into the halls the name of the child's biological parents as notification that court is happening. A last call if you will...

The silence that follows is deafening. I always cry. I didn't understand why I was crying the first time I witnessed it. This was what was best for the child. A chance to move forward with a new and better life. How could I cry over something that was supposed to be in the child's best interest?

I took me a little while before I understood my feelings. I was grieving for what the child should have had. There should have not been a long dark empty hallway. Their parents should have been breaking down the doors declaring their undying love for their child, admitting their mistakes and doing whatever they could to get them back...that they can't imagine life without their child.

But instead there is nothing but silence. A blaring reminder of what this child has lost. What they should have had in the first place and how they never should have ended up alone (with the bailiff yelling down) the long dark empty hallway."

We are so grateful that our foster parents are there in situations like this to love kids in crisis. Likewise our God became flesh to love us,

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9