HT: AARP Bulletin print edition | November 1, 2009 | by Judy Diaddigo

… My husband, Bruce, and I had fostered children for years. Now we wanted to return to travel, grandchildren and privacy. But with this boy, Larry wouldn’t give up. We were one of the few families who would take teenage boys. “I have nowhere else to put him,” Larry said.

We agreed to meet the 16-year-old, but made no promises. When John walked into the room, I looked up to see a mouth full of braces and a smile that could melt the hardest heart. We realized that we really had no choice. If we didn’t take John, he’d be sent to a group home for boys, away from the school system where he’d been enrolled his whole life. We had also fallen in love …

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