When it comes to neighbors, most people probably wave to each other as you drive by, maybe your kids are friends, or maybe you just know that they have a lot of different balls that somehow miss the fence and wind up in your yard.
Statistics estimate that nearly 35 percent of the U.S. population never speak to their neighbors, and only about 17 percent actually interact with their neighbors one to two times weekly.
Tisha and Audrey were a similar reflection of these statistics. Some of their kids were very close, which ultimately brought them together as friends—more than most neighbors.
Last year, Audrey knocked on Tisha’s door and asked if her three kids could spend the night. She had to go to the doctor for some tests in the morning. The kids were excited, and Tisha didn’t think much of it—having five children of her own already, three more wasn’t much of a difference for her and her husband, Kevin.
Those tests changed Tisha and Audrey’s families’ lives forever.
Audrey learned that she had stage 2 esophageal stomach cancer. The single mother of three asked Tisha and her husband to become the legal guardians of her children. Without hesitation they said “yes.”
Audrey passed away quickly after that.
For Tisha, growing her family from seven to 10 was a no-brainer. She had been raised in an orphanage, and didn’t want these kids to endure anything she had to go through in the foster care system.
She and Kevin are now working on becoming foster parents so that they can be more than just legal guardians for Audrey’s kids. Tisha hopes this will protect them from being separated or passed around in the system.
The trouble is, their house isn’t sufficient enough for the state to grant them permission to be foster parents. Two of the boys share a loft, which isn’t considered a room because it needs a wall, and many of the other kids share beds. Tisha’s oldest kids are 16 and 18 years old. One sleeps on the couch recliner, and the other has a make-shift room with a futon off of the kitchen.
