Baby Ruffo and Baby Josue Leave Orphanage
Babies Ruffo & Josue, back in January
When Erika first introduced me to baby Ruffo and baby Josue, I thought she was pulling my leg. These two baby boys, unrelated, were brought to the Orphanage about the same time seven months ago. They came without names, so they were named cheerfully after the family. Little Josue was found abandoned in the bathroom of a Catholic church and was about eight days old. Tiny Ruffo was five days old when he arrived. His mother, a prostitute, had previously had another child brought to the Orphanage.
The newborns were so small when they arrived that Orphanage director Josue and his wife, Lilia brought them directly up into their apartment to care for them. They were too young to be up in the nursery. Josue’s two younger daughters, Keila and Karen, immediately took to the infants, and the entire family was in love. Within a month, they began considering adoption.
DIF’s (Mexican social services) regulations state that prospective parents can not choose the children they want to adopt. Although the family talked with DIF, they were told the rules would not change. And so the babies got older. They were old enough to move into the nursery, but Josue and Lilia kept them up in their apartment.
Yesterday, DIF contacted the Orphanage; DIF told them they were coming to get one baby today, and the other next week. When she heard the news, twenty-two-year-old Keila called one of the babies to her. In his walker, he came over to her. Keila’s heart is broken. This morning over coffee, Lilia cried as she talked about the babies leaving. Baby Ruffo and Josue have deeply touched the hearts of this family.