A panicked little human with his malnourished body clinging to you was something she had never experienced. Trying to calm him down, he hugged her tightly and kept telling him how he was okay and she had got him. The baby’s age was just one, but what he had learned in that one year was what some adults do not understand throughout their lives. Self-sufficiency.
How he behaved and his feelings were all he had learned in the previous 365 days. The foster mother hummed him a little, kept rocking him a bit longer, and patiently waited for the baby to relax and feel safe. In just a few minutes, he had his place on her cheek. Observing what the baby would’ve gone through and how he had behaved brought tears to her eyes, and her heart broke.
He can’t speak, but the tears tell everything. His body acts the way it has been acting from past experiences.
The baby was placed in a local shelter and had been living there for the past five days, as he had been removed from his biological home. The shelter home tried putting him with two families, but it was unsuccessful, so they were unsure how long he would stay there. He celebrated turning one, although in miserable conditions at the shelter!
When they first brought the baby to the woman, his body was bruised, and he looked neglected. The moment she saw and held him in her arms, she knew her responsibility was to give him all the love and care he had missed out on.
‘I have got you, she whispered.’
Waiting no more, she decided to take him home, and on the way home, she knew the first task was to revise her shopping list. The malnourishment needs to be ended; the baby deserves to laugh and shine. She took him along while she drove to the store, put him in the baby carrier, and started shopping. Although the baby was uncomfortable around people and not used to physical touch, he smirked when she said, ‘I got you’ again. How beautiful is the sense of belonging?
Both of them spent the entire day collecting the required stuff. Although he was tiny, she kept telling him things, describing things around him, and kissing and cherishing him. She had a little best friend now. The house was silent when they got home, but the baby’s presence meant everything to her!
She rocked him to sleep that night, and she wanted to do it every day now. She held him while he slept, wondering how things had been so tough on him since birth. She knew she could do something for him that would make his life beautiful and help him overcome all the previous traumas.
When he woke up, he was unsure and still unfamiliar with where he was. He got scared when she scooped him up to hold him in her arms. He wasn’t used to being picked up and feeling loved when he woke up or cried. All these actions were too much for her! She quietly whispered
in his ear, ‘I got you.’
This calmed down the baby and gave him a sense of safety.
It has been a while since he has lived in the house, and he is still getting used to things, whether the food he eats or the people he meets. Every time the baby feels scared or panics, she knows precisely what needs to be done.
It’s just a sentence that needs to be whispered with a gentle kiss.
‘I have got you.’
On day three, the foster mother experienced a magical moment. It was when she saw his eyes looking at her, and he extended his arms to be held when she went close. He found a home! He felt safe and loved in just a week, giving her joy. Although it was a short-lived story, this is how fostering works. Loving and then letting go.
