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THE STORY OF CHILDREN AT STARCROSS: BEFORE 1986

In the early days of the community we heard of four young children abandoned by their parents at Christmas time. We provided them with gifts. The following year we mobilized the "Friends of St. Nicholas" to help in just such situations. One of us, who shall remain nameless, got a Santa suit and traveled around to various hospitals and community centers helping to spread the season's cheer. He was touched by a badly burned four-year-old who trailed Santa around and when told he lived at the North Pole said to him, "I wish you lived closer." Those words haunted us and we asked social worker friends what we could do on a more year-round basis. They suggested we become foster parents.

Several months later, before our house was completely ready and before we were formally licensed, we were asked to take some children on an emergency basis. When they came to the door we were amazed to find the same little girl from the hospital, along with her brother. They made their home with us until they went off to college.

Before long we had 5 young children. We moved to the country and they were all involved in our early homesteading activities. They "helped" put up fences, plant the gardens, milk cows, cut firewood, can fruit, etc. We gradually opened our home to more kids. Usually there were 9 children at a time, most staying for a year or two. Many were troubled kids from the city. There was conflict between the local school and some neighbor families so we set up a one room schoolhouse which our kids and some neighbors attended. The ANNAPOLIS COUNTRY SCHOOL ran for 7 successful years with sister Julie as the volunteer teacher/cook/custodian.

As four of our original children, two sister and brother combinations, approached their teenage years we felt that for their sake, and ours, it was time to make some changes. It was very difficult to meet the increasingly difficult nature of the problems of new children from very difficult backgrounds. We decided to discontinue foster care except for these four. We sent them to high school and helped them prepare for their futures. After three of our children were launched in college or vocational programs and the fourth was a senior in high school we looked forward to an empty nest, but God had other plans.

For what happened after this go to AIDS and/or THE PRESENT.

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