“How Much Is A Child Worth?”
There comes a time in one’s life when, as a pediatrician, you have to answer a very important question – “How much is a child worth?”
Is it worth a call to my old trailer to see a little boy brought in by the LAPD with remnants of tape across his face and wrist?
He had been taped and pushed to the bottom of a full bathtub in the temporary local motel in Bell. He was brave! By kicking on the wall he was able to summon help which saved he and his sister from drowning.
Was it worth driving through the early morning March fog to see a small AA girl misdiagnosed at a local hospital ER on her way to foster care?
I asked the family how to help them, then sent her home and watched her elegant father carry her to the car. “What would you ask me to do if I was magic?” I asked, smiling, at the sad little seven-year-old. “Can you make my mother love me?” she replied.
How much are they worth? They are worth the world!
I have known this since I was seven and my father taught me to care about everyone: young, old, and everyone in-between. It was holidays with students who had nowhere to go, gathered around our dining table in our small house in Riverside; playing games, and laughing the night away – joy at sharing what little we had and learning that the most important thing in life was giving.
VIP was built on – “How can I help?” But the hardest lesson to accept is that passion and caring are often threats to those who have power and do nothing. They never ask, “How much is a child worth?” They ask, “How much did you spend to save them?” I am afraid that we have entered a time when the price to save the life of a small minority, immigrant, or gay child might be too high for most of society.
But, a few Saturdays ago, I drove to the High Desert where Dorothy threw a party in her front yard for hundreds of foster children and foster parents (a Winter wonderland) and celebrated their value and the value of foster parents. It was amazing and validating for VIP to be there to see that – yes – what we do and say is really important. What makes the work important? Perhaps it’s…
Sending a box of clothes and supplies to a young foster parent in Palmdale – a box of what she needed for the foster teenager who arrived the night before;
Having the ability to send children across the country – or the world, for that matter – if it means safety;
Receiving a request for airfare to bring young children to Los Angeles to see their mother one last time before she dies from her terminal uterine cancer;
Watching family after family leave through our back gate carrying gifts for their children.
It’s these moments when it’s possible for us to say – “Yes – YES! We value who you are.” When we ask – “How can I help you?” – we can actually answer and deliver on those requests for help.
I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR CARING ENOUGH to help us fill up those dreams with yes’s.
I hope you had a blessed holiday season!
Astrid
