He cried and no one came to pick him up.
He cried and no one changed his diaper. He cried and no one fed him.
For hours – he cried out to no one.
He cried himself hoarse.
A neighbor listened until she couldn’t anymore, and she called social services.
When investigators arrived, they found Kai inside – 8 months old, hungry, underweight. His face was crusted, his diaper filthy. The place was uninhabitable. The kitchen was empty of food, and his mother was gone.
Never have we heard of a child so alone.
How does this happen? Where does this heartbreak begin?
Possibly for Kai – since both parents were addicted – it started before he was born, exposed in utero to drugs. It was compounded by neglect and, later, by the loss of a grandmother who took him in, then gave him up.
Without parents or grandmother, Kai was out of options. He had no one else. So he entered foster care, one of 12,000 children in the North Carolina system.
That was two years ago.
Kai lives with us now.
He just turned 4 and has a lot of challenges. He doesn’t speak more than a word or two. He lashes out when he’s upset or alarmed. And he’s been dismissed from every childcare center he’s attended.
He needs intensive services – and we are working on neurological, psychological, and medical interventions to help him.
But Kai’s life is just beginning, and we look with hope to the God-given possibilities in his future.
We see this child who loves playing with cars and trucks – and all things dinosaur. We believe he has the potential to speak, to learn, and to make friends. And we celebrate as he allows himself to trust someone new – a foster mother – when loss is all he’s ever known.
Kai needs expert care and a family’s love that will surround and protect him.
And that’s where you come in.
We believe in the generosity of our community to see this child, to feel his hurt, and to want to help. Thank you for supporting Kai, for showing him he is not alone. We cannot do this without you. Together, we can show him how it feels to be truly loved.