An experienced social worker and certified foster parent who lives in a two-bedroom home in Oklahoma has been struggling to gain custody of two of her nephews, according to a report.
Ashley Boone, a 36-year-old child welfare specialist who lives in suburban Tulsa, has been “fighting” with Minnesota’s legal system to reconnect them for nearly three years, the Sahan Journal reported this month. However, their current foster mom, who is white, argues that removing them from their latest living situation to their aunt’s house out of state in Tulsa will disrupt their growth and lives.
“I work this job,” Boone told The Journal. “Kids would rather sleep on the floor at grandma’s house than be in a mansion.”
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The boys, ages 6 and 7, have been taken from their Willmar, Minnesota, home and have been in the foster care system since the fall of 2020, according to the publication. The removal from the family home followed reports the children were being neglected by their parents. For example, they were seen eating out of the garbage and dressed in dirty clothing.
Officials soon discovered that the brothers were exposed to domestic violence and drug use — with both testing positive for methamphetamine and one with marijuana, according to the outlet, citing court records.
Throughout the years, the brothers were transferred to four different homes, living with caregivers who were not family members, the outlet reported. Currently, the biracial boys live with a white foster mom who works as a sales manager. Therapists have said they have made emotional progress under her roof.
In July, a Kandiyohi County District Court judge declined to remove the brothers from their foster mom, saying it could trigger feelings of “loss and abandonment,” per the outlet. The judge also rejected Boone’s claim that the children couldn’t be raised by “people who don’t look like them,” according to the…
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