By Cindy Adams

Ana was eleven years old when she crossed the border by herself to reunite with her family in the States. She was sweet, quiet and scared. Her foster parents were ready but had no idea how it would really feel to bring a tearful young girl from Guatemala home with them.

She was their first.

She arrived carrying a backpack of everything she owned. They tenderly received her. They had trained for this moment, but her soft, deep sadness was real.

"Ana had a lot of sad tears at the beginning," said Chelsea Bolling, Director of enCircle's Transitional Foster Care program. "She had been through a lot."

***

This is where enCircle's Foster Care team shines. They stand in the middle, caring for the foster parents, the children and the family. They know how to create safe space for everyone.

"We learned Ana was a little artist and we were able to get her to draw pictures for us," Chelsea said. "She liked mimicking what she saw on the computer. She was very good."

All the while, Ana's intake coordinator, Danny Materna, was working hard to alleviate the little girl's grief. Children in this process don't understand everything that is happening, but they feel every bit of it.

Danny and the Transitional Foster Care team manage the communication between foster parents, Ana's family and government stakeholders. It is critical work, the kind that isn't often seen, but holds everything together. Danny understands the importance of it, though. She came to the United States from Colombia and knows how difficult it is to be away from loved ones. Every family she helps reunite is in some ways personal.

While Ana waited for the process to unfold, she opened up to her foster parents and began to smile more often. The couple's puppy helped with that, too.

"You begin loving them, even if it's just a week or two," Danny said. "The kids share a lot of moments with their foster parents, and they develop a strong bond."

That was certainly the case for Ana. When the day came for Ana to officially reunite with her family, her foster parents were there to say goodbye. So was the puppy. It was the kind of goodbye that's so very painful, yet right. They stood there with the little dog, sending off the first child they had ever taken in because that’s what they had signed up to do and it was good.

***

When Ana walked into the reunion, her mom, dad and two brothers were waiting. They had made the same journey she had. They understood the distance, the uncertainty, the fear. They also understood the tears that came weren’t the heavy ones she’d arrived with weeks earlier. These were far different. Everyone in the room knew it. Danny knew it and, yes, she was emotional, too.

Ana was the last of their family that was scattered. The last to make the dangerous journey. They were finally whole. The relief. The joy. The peace. It filled the space.

***

Across town, a couple and a little dog were probably feeling the ache of a quiet house and an empty room, but proud they had done their part and thankful Ana was their first.

As the team in the middle, Danny and the others had seen this before and hope they see it many more times. These happy tears far outweighed the sad ones.

As for Ana, she was last. The last of her family to find her way home. The last empty seat at the table is now taken.

First. Middle. Last. Complete.

Learn more about becoming a foster parent through enCircle here.