Hi all--
 
Interesting story about the shelter mom that wanted the young girl to pay
the adoption fee through babysitting.  If I were a parent I'd have to say
that *I* would have been uncomfortable with this, too.  Parents can never be
certain of the motivations of strangers towards their children.  Maybe the
shelter mom has trouble finding babysitters.  On the other hand, there are
too many people out there that hurt children in too many ways to trust
everyone.  What of the couple of daycares that were in the business of
making *sick* movies?  Parents need to be careful.
 
It would have been much more appropriate for the shelter mom to ask that the
child volunteer at the shelter for 3 weekends to pay the adoption fee.  The
child would have learned MUCH about caring for ferrets, and the situation
might have seemed less questionable to the child's mother.
 
I'm not judging the shelter mom--I know nothing about her, and prefer to
think she really needed a babysitter.  But the child's mother didn't know
anything about the shelter mom, either, and a good parent *would* carefully
consider what seems to be an inappropriate exchange of services.  We've all
heard from shelter people about how MUCH time, energy and money is required
to run a shelter--one would think this particular shelter mom would
appreciate help, and more appropriately, at the shelter, instead of
requiring personal services (i.e. care of children).
 
I've gone on too long!
 
--Sherri
[Posted in FML issue 1823]