"No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."

About year ago I began having little promptings that Justin and I were supposed to become foster parents. It started out as a little whisper, which was easy to ignore, because I knew there was no way in heck Justin would ever go for this. After a while the whisperings became louder and harder to ignore. I'd think about it ALL the time. I'd cry when a commercial about adoption came on. Still, I ignored because I was too afraid to bring up the subject with Justin. A few months went by and the whisperings became a yell. A specific yell. There was a baby girl somewhere out there that needed our help.

I had no choice but to say something. I could no longer deny where these feelings were coming from. So, one day out of the blue I said something to Justin. Well, I sent him a text message actually. But, that's not that weird....we often text throughout the day. It was blunt and said something like:

"There's a baby girl out there that needs our help."

His response was immediate and went something like this:

"???"

I told him I thought we needed to become foster parents. He said. OK.

Just like that. No begging. No weeks of talking it out. No "pray about it and see what you think."

I was so happy! I immediately called my friend who works for the State of Idaho as a Social Worker. He told me who to contact to get the ball rolling. Sadly, my happiness quickly turned to frustration as I learned how long, hard, and ridiculous the process was going to be. It was going to take at least a year and cost thousands of dollars.

I basically gave up because the stupid system makes it so difficult.

Today a friend of mine told me about her meth-head sister. She's been doing drugs for 15 years, has several warrants out for her arrest, has four kids that she couldn't care less about, and is now on the run because she's getting a $4000 tax return and knows they'll come looking for her. She's abandoning her four kids to avoid 2 years in jail. She's going to Tennessee. Whatever stupid idiot.

This brought all of my feelings of frustration back to the surface. Where is the justice in this? Any stupid meth-head can have babies and then abandon them, but they're going to make me jump through 100's of hoops, pay $1000's of dollars and be scrutinized for 6 months before I can help? C'mon people! If you'd make it easier for loving couples who have the space and resources, there'd be less of a strain on the welfare system.

Fine. Have it your way. Let the meth-heads win. Stupid Government.