An Edmonton mother has turned to the Internet in a desperate bid to find a new home for her young daughters after deciding she is medically unable to care for them.
Sarah Vibert has multiple sclerosis and lives in a long-term care home. A spinal cord injury in 2009 left most of her body paralyzed, with only limited use of one arm.
In a post on her blog, titled "Please Help My Daughters!," Vibert says her eight-and-nine-year-old daughters have been living with a friend since her ex-husband, who previously cared for the girls, left the country last June.
However, the friend can no longer care for her daughters and Vibert can't locate her ex-husband.
"I now have less than two weeks to find them a home before having to resort to placing them into the foster system. I have tried adoption agencies (I am willing to consider either private guardianship, open adoption, a kinship placement through the foster system or any other arrangement that will allow my girls to feel that they are no longer living in limbo)," Vibert wrote on her blog.
Vibert told Global News she tried to seek support through groups like legal aid and Catholic Social Services, to no avail.
So, she's turned her focus to social media for help.
“I decided to go public because I felt the only way I would be able to find a home that is suitable for the girls,” Vibert said in an interview with the Edmonton Journal.
Her plea spread quickly and by Wednesday the Edmonton Journal reported an overwhelming response from people looking to help.
Adam Holm, from Edmonton and area Child and Family Services, said child intervention workers take the least intrusive approach possible and parents are legally allowed to make private arrangements to find care for their children.
"Which basically means we do everything we can to ensure the safety and the well-being of a child within their family unit. And only look at those kids leaving that family unit only when every other option has been exhausted,” he told Global.
However, Holm says the province and community organizations will help Vibert with support, screening and training when choosing a "forever home" for her girls.
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