When my 16-year-old son Josh came home carrying two newborn twins, I was shocked. He told me they were his father’s babies — his father had abandoned them and their sick mother, Sylvia, at the hospital.
Josh had taken the twins from the hospital temporarily because he feared they would be left alone. After confronting the situation, I contacted my ex-husband, who signed away any responsibility for the children.
We were granted temporary guardianship while Sylvia remained hospitalized. Josh devoted himself to caring for the twins, even sacrificing school and social life to help raise them.
Later, we discovered one twin, Lila, had a serious congenital heart defect requiring expensive surgery, which we agreed to pay for. The surgery was successful.
Unfortunately, Sylvia died from infection, but before passing, she named Josh and me as permanent guardians and thanked Josh for saving her children.
A year later, we are raising the twins together as a family. Though life is difficult and uncertain, we believe the children belong with us.