Visitation

Every month most of the kids get the opportunity to visit with their parents for two hours.  Some have been taken from the home for abuse or neglect.  Other kids have been given over to the government because the parents just do not know what to do with their children, and still others are removed by the government for abject poverty.  So long as they haven't been abused by their parents they have visitation rights.  Eight of the kids rode into town with Matt and my dad, and six rode to Sabana Grande with me and my mom.

Somehow, Ana and Jose's dad is dating Doris, Reina, Fernando, and Katy's mom.  No one really knows how this came about, but it makes the visitation for these six kids a little more convenient.  They are too poor to catch a bus in to town.  Neither can read or write.  The mother can barely count, and when she was having to come into the city, she came to visitation on the wrong day and then wouldn't be able to come back on the right day. 

As we turned on to the street that leads up to the house, the parents were waiting for us.  It is about 3 miles from the road to their house, and they walked down to meet the kids.  When we headed home, they also rode down to say goodbye to the kids and walked back home.

The parents live in a 10X10 house or smaller with a dirt floor.  They had an outdoor stove.  As any parent would be, they were very excited to see the kids.  The kids brought some lunch and juice to share with their parents, and the parents had bought a Coke that they wanted to share with their kids.  We brought Haley with us, and they were ecstatic to meet a gringa baby.  They were excited to share some coke with me and my mom too.

About 100 meters from the house is a park.  The kids all wanted to play there with Haley.  Ana took good care of her and made sure she didn't get hurt.  As we all left, the parents made sure all of us had some mangos from the trees behind their house.

The mom is not mentally capable of taking care of the kids, and the dad clearly loves his two with all of his heart, but was not able to feed them.  These parents love their kids so much, and I felt honored that I was able to be a part of their special time with the kids.