- [Kristan] Yeah.
- Hi, how you doing, Sharon?
- This is crazy, that we could be parents in a week!
In a week. - Yeah.
- Can we just make a little baby stocking with a Z on it?
By the way, we're calling him Z because the names
and identifying features of foster youth
need to remain confidential while they are in care.
- Well, why don't we wait till Monday?
And then, if we get a phone call, we can go buy one.
- [Nicole] Welcome to The F Word,
a series about adopting a kid from foster care.
- All right, let's make this list.
Taking down the Ketubah.
- [Kristan] I don't ever know where to start.
- [Nicole] Pediatrician.
- My gosh, we need like a childcare plan.
- We need a childcare plan. - Yeah, okay.
What else?
Oh my god, we need to call our moms.
- Yeah, we need to call our moms.
- That'd be nice. - Once it's official.
- [Kristan] Right, okay.
- [Nicole] Neither of us could stop thinking about Z.
Is he shy?
Is he outgoing?
What went wrong at home
that he wound up in foster care in the first place?
Will he bond with us?
- [Kristan] We only know three things about him.
He's four-years-old.
He's Latino, and he lives with a great-aunt
who isn't healthy enough to keep caring for him.
But, all of the missing pieces of his story
just fuel our imagination as the days go by.
- [Nicole] This week, we become the adoptive parents
of a child we've never met.
- [Sharon] Let's go in here.
So, are your knives up?
- The knives are up. - Yes.
- [Sharon] Where are your medicines kept?
I remember seeing this before.
- And the keys are out this time.
- [Sharon] Okay.
- We got lots of different window locks
and none of 'em seem to work
and I just put nails in there.
- That works, perfect.
It is so cute with little whales.
It's adorable, it really is.
- Is there any more information about the kid?
- Very bright kid.
Interested in cars and superheroes.
- Sounds like four-year-old boy.
- And he's talkative.
So, he has speech delays,
he is very talkative but hard to discern his words.
This is his third placement.
He needs a home with a high level of commitment
because he does not understand why these move have occurred.
But we are still waiting.
I did email the worker
and she did email me back yesterday afternoon,
and she said a relative popped up at the last minute.
- [Nicole] Oh, wow.
- So, there's a relative she has to assess
as a potential placement.
This has to be something new that popped up.
- [Nicole] Mm-hmm.
- [Sharon] Yeah.
- [Nicole] Okay.
- [Sharon] Unforeseen, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten
you and me involved in this.
- [Nicole] Right.
- [Sharon] She just wouldn't have bothered.
- So, this is a case of a relative being--
- [Sharon] Stepping up.
- Yeah, and made a move.
- Of stepping up in the last minute,
because that's usually ruled out way ahead of time.
- Okay.
- [Sharon] And so, by law they have to give them,
they get first chance.
- Of course. - Yeah.
- We wouldn't want to get in the way.
- Right.
- Of a potential-- - Reunification.
- Reunification with a family member,
even if it's not the birth parents.
- [Sharon] So, I'm sorry.
- Oh, you don't have to apologize.
- [Sharon] I'm glad you got picked.
But then I'm sorry this came up.
- How you feeling?
- Oh, this sucks!
I just, I don't know,
I just had like this really strong feeling
this was gonna work out.
Aw.
Keeping that stocking.
It's a symbol.
- Of our ability to hustle?
- We're sorry.
You might not be getting a four-year-old friend after all.