... one other thing

I wanted to put this in its own post, because it's important.

My friend L has been in the process of adopting Em, 2, who is in foster care, for eighteen months. Em doesn't live with L full-time, because they didn't find her until after she was placed with another family that happened to be friends with L. However, over the past year and a half, they have lived together for longer and longer periods, spending all vacations, weekends, holidays, birthdays, field trips, everything, together - just her legal guardian is still the other family, so she has to spend some time living there as well.

The case was supposed to be settled on Halloween, which is both L's birthday and mine. It was continued for three months, the judge said to make sure that there would be no further action by her drug-addicted, alcoholic, in-and-out-of-jail birth parents. The final court date was scheduled for the 31st of this month.

Two days ago, L got a call that the state has found distant relatives for Em in NJ. The entire process may fall through.

There's a meeting with this newfound family member, social services, and L next Friday. If it goes well, L still has a chance. If it doesn't, L could lose the baby who is effectively her daughter, and who has been calling her Mommy for over a year, with no chance of ever seeing her again, in the blink of an eye.

So, please, whatever karma, meditation, prayer, omen, spell, or balloon-wish you can send her way, do it. She's been crying, obviously, since she got the call two days ago. She can't have biological children of her own, and this girl is all her hopes and dreams in one little curly-headed bundle.