My picture represents me crying in bed because I miss my mom. I am a 6–year–old boy, and my brother is 3.

It all started two years ago when my mom called Human Services because she was on the verge of being evicted from her apartment, had no job, and was afraid she would hurt me and my little brother due to all the stresses in her life. At first we stayed with my grandparents, but due to their health issues, we were placed in a foster home. When we first moved to the foster home and attended daycare, I was always worrying and checking on my little brother to make sure he was OK. Now we have been with our foster parents’ for 20 months, I don’t worry as much and feel we are both safe and loved. During this time we did have visits with mom and we were told that because she cannot take care of herself, she cannot take care of us either. Finally, we were told the Judge made the decision to terminate our parents’ rights and that there would be no more visits. This makes me sad because I worry and miss my mom and it is hard for me to understand why she cannot be with us. My brother seems to have forgotten who our real mom is, but I haven’t.

So now we are moving toward being adopted by our forever parents. I do know that my forever parents can take care of themselves and that they will take good care of me and my little brother. My brother and I will miss our foster parents and they will miss us. We have been a big part of each other’s lives for a long time. I am a little afraid of the unknown and moving to a new place with new parents. We really like our new forever parents and hope to feel safe, secure, and loved. I think we will be OK.