Justine Kennedy was just a 23-year-old grad student when a not-all-that-unexpected phone call came. Her brothers needed someone to care for them. Her mother had been deemed unfit. 

The eldest of 14 children, Justine comes from a large indigenous family. Sadly, there are more than three times the number of indigenous children in foster care, as children from other socioeconomic backgrounds. During her growing up years, Justine had her own experiences with the foster care system. Her sisters spent time in the system too. She was bound and determined not to let any of her 7 younger brothers become another statistic. The youngest was still in diapers when all of this was happening.

No Care Or Foster Care

It was December of 2017 when Justine received a phone call from one of her sisters. It was bad news. The Children’s Aid Society had decided to take the 7 younger boys. They had no idea where the boys would be going, so Justine took the train for about 14 hours to the reserve where her mom lived. Justine described the house as eerily quiet when she got there, and a feeling of great sadness came over her. Her mom was just sorting through clothes, seemingly in a daze, trying to pick up the pieces. 

Apparently the Children’s Aid Society had asked Justine’s mother to clean up the house. She had not done that, so they took the boys. That was the first order of business, so Justine got to work scrubbing walls, cleaning upholstery, and getting things back in order. She never found out exactly what caused her mother to let the house deteriorate into such a state. But her mother did struggle a lot with substance abuse and mental health issues, so this behavior wasn’t totally foreign.

And really, the reasons “why” were quite irrelevant. Justine needed to get the brothers together and keep them there. So she made contact with the Children’s Aid Society, and they came back out to inspect the house. The inspector told her it was “good enough” but there would be weekly check-ins from then on. Justine told the worker that they should have called her; that the boys would have been welcome with her. She had worked her whole adult life to make a good, stable home for them, should they ever need it. She always had a feeling they might need it.

Foster Care Or Justine’s Care

At the time of that December 2017 visit, the youngest was just 14 months old, still in diapers. He didn’t seem to register his environment at all. Justine recalled rubbing his back, which made him cry. Two others were totally emotionally unavailable, not mentally present at all, and it worried Justine.  

A couple of months later she received that not-all-that-unexpected phone call from the inspector. Her mother had been deemed wholly unfit to care for them, and a place was needed for the boys to live. The choice came down to Justine taking them, or relinquishing her control as a responsible family member, allowing the boys to be swallowed up by the system. A couple of them would be eligible for adoption right away. Justine’s heart was racing, but she knew what the answer had to be. 

“I’ll take them,” she said.