Finding Emma

A New Beginning

They got to the office. The social worker took all three of them into their office and had Jimi and Karen sit down while she took Emma to a different room with other kids. She came back and looked up Jimi and Karen in the system. "It looks like you guys have been approved, you just need a signature from a judge." The social worker said. "If we get the signature we can take Emma home?" Jimi asked. "Well first we need to get a judge down here and that could take until Monday since today is Saturday." The social worker said. "So where is she going to go until Monday." Karen asked. "We will keep her here and we will give you a call once we get a hold of the judge, then you can come and pick her up and take her home." The social worker said. Karen looked at Jimi and couldn't contain her smile. Jimi grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Can we see Emma?" Karen asked. "Of course. I will take you over there." The social worker said. The got up and followed her.

They arrived at the room that Emma was in. "Hey Emma. You have some people here to see you." The social worker said. Emma turned around and smiled and ran over to Karen and Jimi. "Do I get to stay with you?" She asked them excitedly. "Hopefully on Monday" Jimi said. "So does that mean I have to stay there until then?" Emma asked. "Yes, but we will come and take you home on Monday. We promise." Jimi told Emma. "I guess I can wait until Monday" Emma said and Jimi and Karen smiled at her. The social worker came up to them. "Can we bring her some clothes for the weekend? She doesn't have any." Karen asked the social worker. "Yeah of course." The social worker said. "Great. Jimi can you stay here and I will go pick up a few outfits for her?" Karen asked Jimi. "Sure babe" Jimi said. Karen left and went to the mall she picked out 5 different outfits and a few other things for Emma then went back to the office. "Hey Emma I bought you some clothes and other necessities for the weekend." Karen told her. "Thank you!" Emma said and gave her a hug. "Alright kiddo we have to get going." Jimi said. "We will be back on Monday." He said and gave her a hug then Karen did.

Jimi and Karen got in the car and headed home. "What if the judge doesn't sign the papers?" Karen asked worriedly. "He will." Jimi replied. "How do you know?" Karen asked. "He will" Jimi said again and smiled at her. Karen smiled back and grabbed his hand.

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It was Monday morning and Karen woke up early around 7:00. She didn't get a lot of sleep so she got up and hopped in the shower then went downstairs and made breakfast for her and Jimi. Jimi woke up shortly and went downstairs to help her. It was about 9:45 and they were almost done cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast when Jimi's phone rang. "Hello" he answered. "Hello, Mr. Westbrook this is Jane Brooks, Emma's social worker." "Hi how are you?" Jimi replied. "I'm great, how are you." She replied. "I'm good" he told her. "I just wanted to call and let you know that the judge signed the papers and we are placing Emma in your care. In 6 months, if everything is going well we can visit the idea of adoption if you are interested." The social worker stated. "Um, yeah, sounds great!" He said. "You can come down here anytime and pick Emma up." She said. "We will be there as soon as we can." Jimi said. "Alright see you in a little bit." She said and hung up the phone. Jimi set the phone down and looked at Karen with a huge smile on his face "Who was that?" Karen asked. "That was Emma's social worker. She said that we can pick her up anytime and in 6 months we can adopt her." Jimi said. "Are you serious?!" Karen asked with a smile. "Yeah" Jimi said and Karen ran over to him and he wrapped his arms around her. They got ready to go and went to the social worker's office.

They got to the office and signed the paper work to take Emma. While they were there the social worker said that Mike was arrested on Saturday and at his arraignment this morning he took a plea bargain and is doing 10 years in jail and his license to be a foster parent was revoked so Emma won't have to go through a trial and he won't be able to hurt any other children. They walked into the room Emma was in and she ran up to Karen and Jimi and gave them a hug. "Are you ready to go home?" Karen asked. "Yeah, I am" Emma said. Emma grabbed her things and the three of them left. Jimi and Karen decided to give Emma the rest of the week off of school to give her time to adjust to living with them.