An Adopted Child's Voice

An Adopted Child's Story

It was usually always loud in my house. There were always people in and out of my house all day and night. It was hard to sleep sometimes because of all the noise. Sometimes I heard people yelling. I used to have a big gray teddy bear. It helped me go to sleep and it kept me warm and safe when it was cold in my house.

I was only about six years old, but I remember it like it was yesterday.......

I was in my bed. I could hear the usual yelling and screaming and I held my teddy bear tightly and tried to sleep. My bedroom door came flying open and some one was holding a flash light in my eyes. There were men with badges and a woman followed behind them. The woman lifted me out of my bed and carried me out into the dark night. I clung tightly to my teddy bear. I could see my mom and dad wearing handcuffs. My mom yelled to me and said, " I'll come get you honey, I promise."

I wet my pants......

The woman put me in her car and buckled me in. As we drove along the woman told me she had a very nice place for me to stay.
She took me to a very nice house and the people there had a bedroom there just for me. the people were very nice to me but I was scared. I didn't have my night lights, or my toys, or my clothes. The woman came back the next day with brand new clothes from the store. They were nice but they weren't mine.
As time went by, my mom never came for me. I heard the lady say that I might be able to be adopted. I didn't know what that meant.
The nice people that I now call Mom and Dad , got me all dressed up and we went to a big court house. I heard people say my real mom and dad were going to be in prison for a very long time.
I heard them tell the judge that my mom and dad weren't feeding me and hadn't even asked about me.
Many court hearings passed.....
I got to see my mom and dad from time to time in a room full of strange people watching us.
I heard the lady tell my new mom and dad they could adopt me now. Every one was happy. I was happy because my new mom and dad were very good to me, but I wondered for a very long time why my old mom and dad didn't want me.
That hurt me very badly. I had good days and bad days. I was happy, but sometimes I cried to myself. I missed my old things that were left behind. I missed my mom and dad and was slowly starting to forget them.

I often wondered if they had forgotten about me.....