Saturday as a credit card commercial

Breakfast for 5 from the McDonald's drive-thru: $9.68
Gas for 360 miles: $52.00
Lunch at a steak house: $40.00
Bribing Beth to ride along as back up: $15 and a bag of Kiddie Mix candy
Assorted snacks and drinks along the way: $20
Broken (brand new) portable DVD player: $75
Six hours with 5 people in the van: not enough money in the world!
A reunion of 3 sisters in foster care who haven't all seen each other since their mother's funeral three years ago: PRICELESS

I can't offer any explanation for why they haven't visited before. That is just the way the state works. I've taken Cori to see the far away sister once, a couple of years ago. She was living with an adoptive family and seemed to be doing well. I take her to see the local sister at least once a month, usually more. They just hadn't all 3 been together in the same room since their bio mom died.

The day went well. The time in the van was better than I expected. Other than breaking the DVD player and yelling, "We're gonna crash!" every time we passed a truck, Twin A did well. I took lots of snacks and toys to occupy her. Nothing held her attention very long but she did much better than I anticipated. We met Twin B and her foster mom at a steak house. Twin B had no idea why they were there. She saw me and Cori and screamed. It took her a few minutes to recognize that Twin A was even there. Lunch was nice. The conversation was loud but pleasant. After lunch, we followed her foster mom to a local park so the girls could visit some more. We took lots of pictures. Leaving was hard on all of them but we do plan to do this at least once a month now, so that helped a bit. The drive home was harder. The kids were tired and sad at having to leave their sister. Twin A insisted she was going to get car sick but a shake from Sonic made that better. She was smiling when we dropped her off at her residential school, so I'm guessing the day was good for her.

I've been involved with these girls for over five years. Cori was placed with me at 9. Her sisters were 7 at the time and were placed together in a therapeutic foster home due to their needs. We did monthly visits at first but, as time went on, rights were terminated, they were placed in various adoptive homes (none of which worked out), and they just lost touch. I'm generally in favor of placing sibs together but have to agree in this case, that I haven't ever met a parent that could successfully keep them all. They all have significant needs and really all need to be only children.

The kids are now 15 and 13. I worry about their futures. I don't think either of the twins will ever be able to live independently, due to their disabilities. Cori struggles with emotional issues from childhood and, truthfully, from damage done by multiple moves in foster care. There are no easy answers here. I've been involved in the case from the start, known all the players (case workers, therapists, foster parents, prospective adoptive parents, bio mom, bio grandmothers, etc.), and can't identify anyone in the system who really dropped the ball big time. For the most part, they did their jobs and seemed to care. For whatever reason, things just haven't worked out for these girls. It makes me sad. It also makes me all the more determined to make sure they continue to have these visits and have a relationship with each other. They need that. It's the least I can do.