Melissa, my heart breaks for you and Faith. I see situations like this a lot at work. The poor kids are the ones stuck in the middle, because they go from a bad situation to one where they adjust and feel safe and are then tore from that to return to parents, who abused/neglected them in the first place, and yes the parents may do what they were told to so they can get their kids back BUT nothing will erase the bad memories the child may have had with them before. Also, i would say out of every 10 kids that I have seen get sent home, within a year or two the parents are back to their old ways again and 7-8 of them are removed again. A lot of people blame the system, but its not the system, we do what we are told to do by the courts and we can be against a child returning home, but if a judge says to send the child home we have to
Also, what some people may not know is that not all foster parents are paid, and they have to deal with a lot. They are the ones who are there when the kids are crying because of nightmares, they are there when the kids are sick, they are there when the child comes home from what was suppose to be a visit with their natural parent but mommy or daddy decided not to show up and not even call to cancel but to allow their child to sit and wait and wait until the waiting period is over, they are the ones who love and care for the child for weeks, months, years and make the child feel secure and safe while mommy and daddy do whatever they want, as long as they go to their treatment programs or do what they are suppose to.
Melissa, I give you a lot of credit for being a foster parent, it is one job I know I would never be able to do, I love children BUT would never be able to let them go once i bonded with them