By Dan Montgomery

It's no secret that enCircle's Foster Care program takes on complex, challenging cases, whether that means children who have endured disruptive home lives, complex bureaucratic mazes, or sibling groups too large for typical foster parents and case workers.

So consider the ongoing case of four siblings who had already been in and out of foster care for years. Separated from each other. In other states. Twylah Evans hadn't heard from her estranged sister in Michigan for more than 10 years when, two years ago, she learned that it was her sister’s wish that her two boys and two girls, ages 6, 8, 11, and 13, be placed in Evans’s Eastern Virginia home. Twylah and her husband, Cecil, jumped into action, making trips to Michigan to spend time with the children, maintaining weekly contact through telephone calls and virtual meetings, and lobbying officials and politicians to ensure the children could be reunited.

"There were complicating factors beyond the bureaucratic hurdles to clear in any interstate foster placement," said Fantonis Warner, enCircle Treatment Foster Care Program Manager. "For one thing, a Michigan couple was interested in adopting one of the children, so that child stayed behind when three of the siblings came to Virginia last August. Mrs. Evans’s sister died tragically, and Michigan officials were no longer obligated to try to honor her wishes."

In the end, Michigan officials agreed it was in the sister's best interest to live with her siblings in the Evanses' home, and she arrived earlier this month. The Evanses have begun the process of adopting all four children and giving them the stable, permanent home they need.