CATONSVILLE, Md.—Every Mother’s Day, Robin Reynolds receives cards, calls and texts from many of the 14 children whom she has been a foster mom to during the past 14 years.
“They say ‘Love you, Ma,’” said Robin with a smile. “I say, ‘I love you, too.’”
Whether sold for drugs by an addicted mom or found digging through trash for food, these children all suffer from trauma from years of abuse and neglect. A runaway asked to live with “Ms. Robin,” but never got the chance. She was shot and killed on the street.
“All kids deserve a chance,” said Robin, who has seen firsthand that life is not fair.
“So much depends on what hand you are dealt at birth,” she said. “If things had worked out differently, my own children could have been these kids. I could have been one of these kids.”
Robin got interested in foster care after a number of children in the Baltimore schools, where she is a nurse, came to her for help.
“Kids asked me, ‘Will you be my foster parent? Can I go home with you?’” Robin said.
She contacted Building Families for Children and learned about its treatment foster care program, CHOSEN (Children of Special and Exceptional Need).
Robin and husband, Vincent Johnson, who works with youth, were considering CHOSEN when she got a “sign from above” to do it.
“I went to church. And the pastor said in his sermon, ‘You are the CHOSEN ONE!’”
Robin and her husband now have two foster children, both teenage girls. They also have three grown children of their own.
Robin’s mother moved in with her a few years back. “The (foster) kids call her ‘grandma,’” Robin said. “They tell her everything. My husband is the softie. My own kids have never been jealous of the foster kids. They help them. We are family.”
Like any family, there can be conflicts. The foster children’s behavior can be challenging because they are still learning to cope with their trauma, an objective of CHOSEN.
“I had kids kick in doors and punch holes in the wall,” Robin said. “But I haven’t put any of them out. I haven’t given up on any of them. I work with them.”
Some of her foster children moved back with their biological parents or into another foster home or institution. One was adopted. Others aged out of foster care when they turned 21. One picked Robin’s daughter to be her child’s godmother.
Many of Robin’s foster children graduated from high school. A few went to college. One is studying to become a social worker.
“A lot of these kids are really smart,” Robin said. “Sometimes I cry when they leave.”