Hidden Girl_The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave by Shyima Hall

Author:Shyima Hall [Hall, Shyima]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2014-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

I didn’t have to wait too long before I got my wish. Not too long after I turned fifteen, I was placed in the home of a family in Orange, about sixty-five miles from Orangewood’s location.

When my prospective mom and her youngest daughter first came to Orangewood to meet me, I was jaded by my previous foster care experiences and did not hold out much hope that this situation would be any different. I did not want to be labeled as a “difficult child,” though, so I put on my happy face for the meeting. I was glad to realize, however, that my social worker had heard my words, because this family was not Muslim.

The way foster parenting works is that the parents are paid by the state for every child they take in. Payment varies from state to state, and from each individual referring organization. I believe that foster parents of kids from Orangewood got paid a bit more than many others, because Orangewood was a good organization that tried hard to place kids in the right homes. Maybe the people who made such decisions thought the extra money would attract parents who might otherwise not be interested in fostering. In talking to other kids at Orangewood, I found that the sad reality was that this system brought in some prospective parents who were there only for the money. I sat in front of this woman and her daughter and hoped that was not the reason they were there. There was no way to know until I learned more, and the only way to do that was to spend a few days with them.

My prospective foster mom and her youngest daughter picked me up, and I went to spend a weekend with their family. I learned that the family had had foster kids in the past—and that they were taking care of the dad’s nephew plus their three biological children. If I stayed, I would become the fifth child in the home, and the oldest. The nephew was ten, and then there was a boy of seven, followed by two girls who were six and four. They seemed nice, including the dad, but by I now realized what a huge decision this was. I had found that moving in with a new family could be the answer to my dreams. It could also become my worst nightmare.

On Monday my social worker gathered my things from Orangewood and came out to the house. When she got there, she saw the indecision on my face and said, “You can either stay here or you can come back to Orangewood with me, but you have to make a decision now.”

I went back to Orangewood. Part of my decision was based on fear. What if this family turned out to be as bad as my previous ones? Another part of my choice was based on my gut feeling. My intuition told me that something was up with this family, but I could not put my finger on it.

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