Caring Heart: Meeting the birth parents

  As the season of Mother's Day approaches, with Father's Day next month, I decided to use the meditation about meeting bio-parents.  The relationship is so challenging, the emotions so tangled.

Meeting the birth parents:

Today I meet the biological parents.  I admit that I am uncertain at best, worried for sure, and wondering how I will avoid appearing to judge them.  It is so hard, Lord.  I don't intend to put myself above someone else, and yet, here I am with their child.  I am not taking care of their while while they are in hospital.  This child was taken away for reason. I have never had a child taken away from me out of concern for the child's welfare.  So, in a sense, Lord, how can I not think I am better than these parents? I know it is not politically correct, but that doesn't mean it may not be true. I may not be better than they intended to be.  I may not be better than what they hoped to be.  But I am better than what they were able to be at least at this time.  So, today we will  be together in one room.  Those who have been told they cannot be trusted with their children's welfare.  Me who has been given that trust and that responsibility.  Help us to find a way to communicate, to share in creating good for this child.  Help us focus on what is best for this child and help us make whatever accommodations and agreements will enable the best possible outcome.  Help us.


Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker    Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.