{"id":305275,"date":"2024-01-18T06:49:54","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T12:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=305275"},"modified":"2024-01-16T23:08:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T05:08:22","slug":"social-media-reconnect-foster-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/social-media-reconnect-foster-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She’s alive!’ Social media reconnects woman with foster mom who ‘made a difference’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In December 2023, a woman turned to social media<\/a> to thank her former foster mother, whom she hadn’t seen in 40 years, for taking care of her. It launched an online search party for that foster mother, which ended in the pair’s reunification.<\/p>\n

Hannah Marie Smith was 12 years old when she entered the foster care system because her mother was unable to care for her properly. After initially being put into a children’s shelter, Smith, who went by the name “Marie” as a child, was taken in by foster mother Essie Gilchrist.<\/p>\n

“I was 12 yrs old when my mother lost the ability to parent me safely,” Smith wrote<\/a> on X. “I was taken from her & put into a huge, scary children’s shelter. It took a long time but they finally found someone who would take in a deeply troubled, rather wild child like me.” That someone was Gilchrist, who fostered children of all ages for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n

Though Gilchrist’s home was safe and happy, Smith said she stole from Gilchrist, and “ran up her phone bill calling my boyfriend.” Smith eventually ran away. She was placed back into the shelter and never saw Gilchrist again.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure I broke her heart,” said Smith.<\/p>\n

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I was 12 yrs old when my mother lost the ability to parent me safely.<\/p>\n

I was taken from her & put into a huge, scary children’s shelter. It took a long time but they finally found someone who would take in a deeply troubled, rather wild child like me.<\/p>\n

Mama Essie was a black\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 NeuroscienceGirlLOVESJesus (She\/Her) (@Jubilee4Jesus) December 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n