We were supposed to be taking a week off from shelter care. We had back to back out of state trips planned, and we thought it would be best if we didn’t take a baby and then request to have to have it moved because we were going out of town. Then we heard the news-23 babies sitting at the Welcome Center in Los Angeles. Every single one of them needing a foster home to go to. The Welcome Center is an office building used to house children when they are detained. It is a holding center of sorts. Designed as a waiting room for children right after they are removed from their home and waiting to be placed in a foster home. Legally, children and babies are not supposed to stay at the Welcome Center for more than 24 hours. However, the demand is too great. Too many babies and not nearly enough foster homes. Most of the time, children and babies wait in the office for 24 hours while the social worker is searching for a home. If no home is found, the child will leave the office building for a day and returned to the Welcome Center, and the clock is restarted. Such a sad and scary situation for any child to be in. So we said yes. We were told that the sweet little babe was born the day before and would be arriving to our house in the next couple of hours. It was a crazy, busy day full of many parties and plans. The sweet little baby arrived on our doorstep only to be whisked off to a birthday party. The kids were so excited to show off their new foster brother and it made for a really fun weekend. He was such a sweet joy, and the thought of him spending an extended amount of time sitting in an office building makes me cringe. Every newborn deserves to be held, kissed and loved on. Even if it means those kisses take place in the middle of birthday parties and chaos. If we had said no to that precious little baby, we would have missed out on the privilege of being his first mommy and daddy. The 4 days he spent with us was crazy, chaotic and exhausting, but the time was precious and memorable.