her own agency in her hometown of
Vidalia.
The following year, Kailey ran for
and was elected to serve on the Vidalia
City Council, which officially began
January 2016. She had been serving
on the city council for a couple of years
when she was notified about the death
of the two infants. Kailey knew the
people who served this community and
worked hard to make this community
safe. She knew many of the doctors
and nurses who would have most likely
been present at the birth of these
babies. She admired many people who
worked in our judicial circuit. Kailey
was not looking for someone to blame,
but rather, she was looking for some
way to help bring change so that it
didn’t happen again. Not on her watch.
It was a noble quest and one that
would change her life in a profound
and personal way. After contacting
DFCS, Kailey began the process of
becoming a foster parent. It was simple
enough. And “Yes,” she explained, “a
single person can be a foster parent.”
The cost for finger printing and several
weeks of training classes was covered
by the state.
She had only been approved a
little over a month when a call came
at 8:30 a.m. on September 17, 2018.
It was DFCS. “She said, ‘Kailey, are
you ready?’ I said, ‘Ready for what?’
She said, ‘We've got a baby that needs
to be placed in a home.’” “Yes,” Kailey
answered without knowing the baby’s
name, exact age, or even the baby’s
gender.
A two-month-old baby girl had
been brought into the emergency
room with a fractured skull. A CT scan
revealed she also had a previous skull
injury from which she was still healing.
“There was no way to know exactly
what had happened,” said Kailey, “but
the doctor thought the baby would
be okay.” The following day, Kailey
became Emi’s foster parent.
“The process that precedes the
removal of a child from a parent is
complicated,” said Kailey.
The doctors, nurses, and those
who work in DFCS are limited on
what they can and cannot do. No one
is against giving the birth parent a
chance to do what is right by their
child, but it’s a system that often fails
the children it was created to serve.
Kailey had stepped into the foster care
system hoping to learn more about the
laws involved and was now the sole
caregiver of a two-month-old baby girl.
As the foster parent, she was there
to love her while the birth mother
worked a reunification case plan. While
her main focus was caring for Emi,
Kailey stressed, “It is vital to show
love and care for the birth parent. Not
only is it the right thing to do, but the
grace that a foster parent extends can
positively change the direction of that
parent’s life.”
When the parent asks to work
a “case plan,” supervised visits with
the parent are scheduled by DFCS
through a court order. The visits were
ordered to take place at the CASA
(Court Appointed Special Advocates)
house every Tuesday and Thursday
from 10:00-12:00. “I realize it’s a huge
commitment,” Kailey confessed. “If I
had not owned my own business, it
would have been impossible for me to
take off work multiple times a week.
The visit is supervised by a CASA
employee or volunteer, but the foster
parent is not allowed to stay with the
child during the visit.”
The role of DFCS is not to be an
adoption agency, but to facilitate the
reunification of families. Of course,
that process comes with accountability
over time. Every parent’s situation
behind losing custody of a child is
unique; but drug abuse is a common
factor in many cases. Cycles of
substance abuse and poverty can
create patterns of behavior across
generations. Parents who struggle
with addiction often have a history of
trauma themselves.
“I do not stand in judgment
38 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE