Chapter 16
Nutmeg Begins the Journey Home
On the home front, we were slowly making progress. After a series of several meetings and consultations, County Social Services had agreed to a placement with the Braidons if they would sign a health contract which included a regular medical yearly checkup by a local County physician to legal age 18, recommended vaccinations, hospitalization treatments if recommended by the physician, and continuous overview of Nutmeg’s health by the County Medical Services Unit. This meant that Nutmeg’s doctor would send reports of her health status and progress on a regular basis to the County Health Dept. for approval and safety until she was of legal age. Social Services warned us and the parents that the Courts might not approve adoption under these circumstances, but they agreed that if the foster placement was deemed successful after two years, they would join us in advocating for permanent placement and adoption with the Family Court.
With these conditions agreed to by the fost-adopt parents, the Social Services Department, the Health Department and Family Court initial overview, we were ready to begin Nutmeg’s placement, first as a foster child and, hopefully, eventually as a permanent adoption.
Working with the parents, we decided that we would begin now, in March, with day visits after school, and then proceed to overnight and weekends, with actual home placement in June at the end of the school year. This would allow Nutmeg to complete her school year without another interruption in her education, and then begin in the fall at Strawberry Point where the family lived. Four months of preparation would allow us to continue helping Nutmeg continue to grow into a healthier child as we helped her and her new parents adjust and begin, hopefully, to attach and learn to love each other.
It was now my job to tell Nutmeg about her new family and take her for a first visit. I had called Marci to tell her to have Nutmeg ready for a trip to meet her new family on Friday afternoon after school. She would stay for the afternoon and for dinner with her new family, meet her new grandparents and her new sister and stay for a few hours after dinner when I would return her to the Evaluation Home. We chose for me to do the first delivery and return home in order to assess her initial reactions to the probable placement. If all went well, the Braidons would then be responsible for her pickup and delivery. Now I was on my way on Wednesday afternoon about 4:00 to tell Nutmeg the news.
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Nutmeg met me in the driveway as I drove up to the Evaluation Home. “Marci said you were coming,” she exclaimed, “and she said you have good news for me. What is it? What is it? “She jumped up and grabbed my hand excitedly.
Laughing, I swept her into my arms. “Nutmeg, let’s you and I walk to the park and have a quiet talk there, what do you say?” I asked. The park was just around the corner, less than a block away, and a place I often took children to have private talks about important things in their lives.
“OK,” she said. “But do I have to wait till I get there to hear the news?”
“I think it’s better.” I replied. I saw a little pout come upon that beautiful golden brown face as Nutmeg tried to contain her excitement. We walked hurriedly to the park where spring dogwoods bloomed and wild violets were poking their heads up through the grass. It was late afternoon, but the fog had not yet rolled in off the Bay, so the air was warm and pungent with the fragrances of spring.
Nutmeg quickly found a park bench, pulled me down on it, and said: “OK we’re here. Please, please tell me the news.” Her deep brown eyes pleaded as she stood over me, hands on her hips, demanding to know what I had to tell.
“Well, Nutmeg, it looks as though you may have a new family.” I said quietly. “There may be a few problems to work out, but we think this is a very special family for a very special girl -- you.”
“There was a moment of silence as Nutmeg hugged herself and crooned in a sing-song way very quietly: “I have a family. I have a family.” Then an explosion of joy right before my eyes as she jumped up and down, twirling this way and that wildly, screaming “I have a family!”
She stopped twirling, put her hands again on her little hips and demanded: “Tell me EVERYTHING about them!”
“I will if you sit down and be very quiet. Come.” I patted the space next to me on the park bench.
Nutmeg sat down, put her hand in mine and looked up at me, waiting with pleading eyes.
“OK, Nutmeg. Your new family are the Braidons. Sue Braidon, the mom, is exactly what you asked for. She has light hair and a lovely smile and her eyes sparkle. And I like her a lot.”
Nutmeg was looking into my eyes, holding both my hands very tightly.
“Jack Braidon is the Daddy in this family. He’s very tall, is dark and has wavy hair and sometimes he has a beard when he doesn’t feel like shaving.”
Nutmeg uttered a quiet “Yuk.”
“Kim, the eight year old daughter, says he’s lots of fun, even with a beard,” I teased Nutmeg. “Really, she says her Dad is very special and he never hurts her or her Mom.”
“Uh-huh -- I gots a sister, too?” She asked looking at me with very big eyes.
“Yes,” and a puppy dog and a kitty -- and --”
“Tell me, tell me.”
“Well, lots of love birds and a cockatoo and finches and more. And even a nice pair of grandparents right up the street a little way from where your home will be.”
“You ain’t spoofin’ me none, now is you?” she asked urgently. Nutmeg was so anxious she reverted to earlier street language patterns. We had seen her do this several times.
“No, Nutmeg, I’m not spoofing you. I wouldn’t do that with such a serious subject.”
“I know, I know, but I can hardly believe this,” she said excitedly. “Oh Miss Helen, is I really, really gonna have a real true home forever?”
“I hope so, Nutmeg. I really think so. But I have to tell you, you know, that the Family Court will decide this for sure, and we can never know what they will do in the end. I’m sorry that is always true, Nutmeg. But you already know it is. This time is a little different, because you have Children’s Garden on your side and we will tell the court, if this is what you decide you want, that this is right for you and really urge them to go along with us all. That’s a pretty good advantage you didn’t have before.”
“Uh-huh, Children’s Garden can do ANYTHIN’!” she said with gusto.
“Well, not everything, Nutmeg, but we do pretty well most of the time,” I said.
She suddenly jumped up, twirling and singing: “I got me a family. I got me a family... wheeeee -- I got me a family.”
Turning to me and stopping mid a jump, laughing, she demanded: "When can I go meet my family, Miss Helen?”
“How’s Friday after school?”
“Really, REALLY?”
“Yes, really.”
“Oh Miss Helen I can’t wait!” Nutmeg jumped into my lap and hugged me tight.
“We’d better get back to Marci. She’ll want to help you pick out your clothes and likely have a talk with you about meeting your family. I will pick you up at school Friday and we’ll drive over together. Your family lives in a beautiful home in Mill Valley. And your new school, next fall, is a wonderful one, Nutmeg.”
“Can I take my lovebird?” she asked wistfully.
“Yes, you surely can, but not tomorrow. Tomorrow you will just go for an after school visit and have dinner. Then I will pick you up and bring you back to Children’s Garden for bedtime. You will be visiting a lot in the next few months, Nutmeg. We’re going to take this slowly, to be sure it is right.”
“Oh I know it’s right if you picked them out, Miss Helen.”
“Thanks,” I said. I surely hoped she was right. She deserved a good home forever.
The Journeys of Bumbly Bear Page 16
