Dear Santa: A Letter from a Foster Child

Dear Santa, 

Well, first of all, I’m much too old to be writing to you but I thought it couldn’t hurt, right? My name is Anthony, and I’m thirteen years old. I live in a group home, and it feels like I’ve been here forever but really, it’s been about a year. It’s an ok place and a couple of the staff are cool, but I really am hoping for a family soon. 

But this letter isn’t about me. It’s about my brother and sister, James and Jasmine. They are 10 and they live with my Nana, but they can’t stay there much longer because she isn’t allowed to have kids in her apartment where she lives. Also, Nana has been pretty sick. My caseworker told me that James and Jasmine are going to foster homes soon. 

My Christmas wish is that James and Jasmine get to be together in a nice foster home where they’ll be safe. I read online that it’s hard to find foster homes where brothers and sisters can live together. Since they are twins, my brother and sister are really close. They had to live apart before they went to my Nana’s, and they were really sad and missed school a lot. But they are really good kids. They just need to be together with a family who will love them and take care of them.  

So, Santa, that’s my wish. That James and Jasmine live together safely in a family.  

Well, actually, I have another wish. I’d like to live with my brother and sister, too. I’ve heard that it’s really hard to find foster homes for teenagers. But I’m a teenager, and I’m asking you to find a family for James and Jasmine and me. I know that’s a very big wish. But that’s what Santa does, right? Make very big wishes come true? 

I hope that someday all of us can live with mom. But until that gets figured out, please find a way to keep us together. 

Thanks, 

Anthony 

* This is a fictional piece written from the perspective of a foster child based on real situations often faced by Plummer youth.