There’s nothing more heart-wrenching than a child in need.
We all struggle, have bad days, and sometimes think our lives suck. Most of us are very lucky to have a roof over our heads, food to eat, and people who love us.
But foster children are not as lucky.
We don’t have to worry when we go to sleep at night. We don’t have to wish for simple items like soap, a toothbrush, or a house with running water and lights. Many children cannot relate.
So, when a foster child wrote a wish list, it made its rounds on the internet and went viral.
The wish list from an Oklahoma foster child is probably one of the saddest things you’ll ever read, and it might strike a nerve with you. So many things we take for granted would make this child’s life.
The note, published by the advocacy group Dreamcatchers for Abused Children, was written by an unknown little one in foster care in Oklahoma.
It outlines all of the challenging ups and downs of life so far and expresses what the kiddo hopes for in future foster homes, and in a forever family.
Wherever this unknown child is, we’re sending our love. Scroll through below to read the powerful words on the foster care wish list.
Dreamcatchers for Abused Children first posted the foster care wish list online back in July of 2015, but the words it contains are as relevant and important as ever.
Alongside a photocopy of the note, the group writes, “This is a wish list from an Oklahoma foster child…..When we think of how bad we have things, we MUST always remember the children who have nothing. Who NEED us.”
The image and words made major waves on social media, shared hundreds of thousands of times to spread the powerful handwritten message of a child.
The note itself may be disturbing for some readers. It contains descriptions of @buse.
It reads:
Things I want in my family.
- I want food and water.
- Don’t h-it on me.
- A house with running water and lights.
- I want love.
- Mom and Dad don’t fight.
- I want no dr-ugs.
- Don’t k!ll my pets.
- Help with school.
- Nice clean clothes.
- No lice. No bug in house.
- Clean house. Clean bed with covers.
- Don’t sell my toys.
- Treated fair.
- Don’t get drunk.
- TV in house.
- Let me keep my games.
- School stuff.
- Nice shoes.
- My own comb.
- Soap.
- Nice house and safe.
- AC and heater.
- Coat.
- Toothbrush.
The words are a truly heartbreaking reality check.
Most of us have never been in foster care and don’t fully appreciate the incredible complexities of the system as it currently stands.
There are many, many wonderful foster parents out there, but there are bad apples too. Some children travel through one abus!ve situation after another for years.
Meanwhile, caseworks have huge numbers of kids to look out for. Even the most dedicated and loving worker can’t possible keep track of dozens of different cases at once.
That’s why it’s so important for all of us to do what we can to support kids in foster care, who have often been traveling from one difficult situation to another for years, sometimes for their whole lives.
That’s why it’s so important to keep cheering on the loving foster parents, the diligent caseworkers, and the organizations that support them.
If you want to spread the word and help kids in foster care, be sure to SHARE this sweet child’s important message.
Source: littlethings.com; yourtango.com