Growing up, Robbin Charles dreamt of having two things — a big family and a home of her own.
This year, she made strides toward making both dreams come true.
First came the additions to Charles’ two children Anihja Walker, 13, and Patience Charles, 2, — her niece Egypt Rideaux-Charles, 7, and nephew Harlem Rideaux-Charles, 9, whom she formally adopted on Oct. 11 in Jefferson County Judge Gordon Friesz’s courtroom.
After the proceeding, Charles took the children back to school, celebrating later that night with a special dinner and gifts.
By and large, though, “to me it was a normal day,” Charles said. “It didn’t feel different, we were just making it official. Now they know this is going to be their forever home, and they don’t have to deal with going in-and-out of group homes.”
Egypt and Harlem weren’t entirely new to Charles’ family. The siblings have lived with her since November 2021.
Having them in her care as foster children was something Charles worked hard to achieve since learning Child Protective Services had removed them from her sister’s home in early 2021.
Their living situation came as somewhat of a surprise to Charles, whose sister had managed to keep her struggles with drugs and alcohol and the impact it was having on her children relatively unknown.
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After a short stint with a designated foster family in the Buckner system, Egypt and Harlem were placed in of Charles’ great aunt’s custody.
It’s the same relative with whom she, her sister and mother lived with growing up and was the only kinship option ready, as Charles wasn’t yet licensed for foster care.
But her great aunt’s advanced years and economic situation made keeping the two young children, then just 5 and 7, a struggle; and eight months in, they faced the reality of going back into CPS custody.
Charles vowed that wouldn’t happen.
“I wasn’t going to let them go back in the system,” she said. “I was going to get them by any means.”
Charles went back to Buckner to begin whatever work was necessary to get custody of the children.
In the foster system, Charles was an ideal option for Egypt and Harlem.
Placing children in “kinship care” with blood relatives or “fictive kin” (close family friends who are like family) is the preferred scenario for most children entering the foster care system, Buckner Family Services foster case manager Yolanda Hopkins said.
Roughly 44% of children placed into the foster system are in kinship care, according to data provided by Buckner.
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“Research supports the belief that children who remain with family tend to have a greater sense of belonging and acceptance, which in turn promotes stability in placement,” Buckner cited. “‘Through continued family relationships and improved stability, children are more likely to feel attached, loved, connected and confident — resulting in empowerment and mastery which ultimately leads to self-sufficiency.’
Charles didn’t know the stats and wasn’t driven by data.
She simply loved her niece and nephew and wanted to do whatever was necessary to ensure their lives and futures were as secure and successful as possible.
“I knew I’d have challenges and setbacks, but I’d have support from Buckner and my family. So, I knew we could weather any storm,” Charles said. “I always said I wanted five children, and I guess this is God’s blessing, because now I have two more. It was meant to be.”
That attitude went a long way to smoothing the road to foster licensure.
“Robbin came through Buckner to become a licensed foster home so that she could get her niece and nephew, with the understanding that when you are a kinship home and you are licensed, it also gives you the ability to receive financial assistance, and then you can move forward with the legal adoption that CPS will pay for up to a certain amount — as long as you accept an attorney that accepts the state rate….and that’s what she did,” Hopkins explained.
Charles’ financial stability was another bonus.
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“It wasn’t an income thing for her — she already worked,” Hopkins said. “She already had a place to live, and she had her own two kids to take care of, and when you go to the home, (Harlem and Egypt) look like they belong. There are toys for them, their living space is ‘a room for me,’ not just a blanket and a pillow.”
The latter scenario is what many foster children face, especially when placed outside of a kinship setting.
“You’ll find that kids who come into foster care (who) aren’t with a kinship, everything is so open, (they) don’t know what happens next until constancy and permanency is achieved,” Hopkins said. “When we think about kids coming into foster care where there was neglect, (we’re talking about) probably unsanitary living conditions, limited foods. That was the case with Harlem and Egypt.”
The situation especially effected Harlem, who was old enough to understand the impact of the lights being shut off, not having food on the table or things that other children had.
After her great-aunt turned Egypt and Harlem over, CPS placed them with Charles through their kinship program, though she wasn’t yet a foster home.
At that time, CPS monitored the home, but when Charles became licensed with Buckner, they took over that role.
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“As her case manager, I went out to her home every month, visited with her and the children, saw how things were, then also coordinated with CPS when it was nearing time for her to plan for the adoption,” Hopkins said.
They assisted Charles in providing everything CPS requested, including a lawyer, criminal background check, environmental checklists for her home, an up-to-date fire extinguisher and more.
“You have some kinship families that you really have to walk through the process, because they don’t know about the resources, they’re not familiar with how to do the paperwork that’s required, the monthly documentation and medical appointments,” Hopkins said.
Older kinship placements may also struggle with the technology side of the equation, in addition to changing their prior disciplinary methods. Punitive measures like spanking are verboten in the foster system.
“I know that’s your niece or your grandchild, but you just can’t do it,” Hopkins explained. “So you have to let them know how serious it is — the things you might personally desire to do, you cannot do.”
When it came to following the steps needed for foster licensure, Charles was an A+ candidate — always patient and receptive of the policies and procedures that needed to be followed.
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She attended every workshop and wasn’t just present, but engaged, Hopkins said.
And when problems arose, Charles didn’t make excuses, “she just made things happen,” Hopkins said. “She did things in stride to make everything better for (Egypt and Harlem) than the trauma they came out of.”
Charles gave them normalcy after years after chaos, creating a new sense of home that would show the powers that be — namely CPS — that she could do whatever was needed.
Checking those boxes wasn’t always easy.
“It was emotional, because this was a big life change for me,” Charles said.
But it was a change she embraced.
In addition to completing all the workshops and requirements for becoming licensed as a foster home, Charles took on a second job to augment her income, enabling her to afford a larger, three-bedroom apartment in the complex where she’d lived for 12 years.
It meant Harlem could have his own room, while Anihja and Egypt shared a room and Charles shared the smallest bedroom with baby Patience.
“My daughter had to adjust to sharing space, but she loves her cousins and she’s a big help,” Charles said.
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Between her full-time work as a corrections officer and side job as a home health aide, Charles works at least 60 hours a week.
But she still manages to make the multiple stops needed to get Patience to and from daycare, the children to school and then to after-school and weekend activities like pee wee football for Harlem, softball and basketball for Anihja and soon soccer for Egypt.
“Some days I’m just exhausted,” Charles said, “But I still cook five days a week.”
Making nutritious family dinners is routine in her household — not just grab a plate and go watch TV or play a game — but an old fashioned, sit-down family dinner.
It’s not how Charles grew up, but it was always part of her vision of how she wanted her family to be. Despite being tired after a day’s work, she never fails to stand up at the stove night after night and make a homemade meal for them to enjoy together as a family.
“She’s intentional with that, ” Hopkins said, and that familiarity creates a stability in a world where children have not always had that sense of predictability — when a parent’s drug use or instability (means) children don’t know what will happen next.
Egypt and Harlem know what will happen every day.
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They’ll go to school, do whatever after-school activities they’re involved in, come home, do homework under Charles’ watch and assistance, set the table, eat dinner, bathe and go to bed.
On the weekends, the family will have more relaxed time.
“I rarely cook on the weekends,” Charles said. “The weekend is our fun days.”
They’ll play, take in a community event, watch movies at home, enjoy take-out and play with Cain — the dog “they just fell in love with” after Charles brought him home.
Harlem and Egypt have also fallen in love with their baby sister Patience and have stepped up to help take care of her that they’re no longer the only children, nor in Egypt’s case, the youngest.
“They’re very helpful,” Hopkins said. “I think that’s a natural family trait. When you look at (Charles) taking care of her grandmother — she moved her there in the same apartment complex and got her all set up with providers — I think that trait of caring for someone is natural. So those kids take that on, as well.”
And it’s not the only change Hopkins sees in the pair since joining Charles’ home.
“When she first got them, they were having difficulties with their educational tracks, and she advocated for them at school,” Hopkins said. “Harlem oftentimes would be a distraction in class, and his teachers were like, ‘If he does this one more time, we’re going to put him out of school.’”
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Getting kicked out of first grade is no easy task, and Charles made sure that wouldn’t be Harlem’s fate.
“She would go to the school and advocate for them to get tutoring, services — things that would help them to get on track,” Hopkins said. “I thought that was awesome for her to do that.”
The children struggled with other issues common with children who’ve experienced insecure living conditions.
But they’re behaviors Charles is already correcting, especially now that they are part of her family and know “they have a forever home” with her, she said.
Harlem’s room is filled with everything he loves, from his Spiderman bedspread to the football uniform and helmet that sits on a shelf nearby and the closet full of gym shoes, clothes and toys.
The same is true in Egypt’s room, where her top bunk is filled with her favorite electronic games, and her closet is stocked with clothing and toys.
“Their closets are bigger than mine,” Charles joked.
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But they’re not quite big enough to hold all the toys Charles has accumulated for them and baby.
They spill out into the hallway and into corners of the apartment’s dual kitchen/dining table.
Having more room to spread out in their own home was a dream which couldn’t come fast enough, and in November, Charles found a home in West Port Arthur.
“God blessed me again,” she said.
Charles hoped the family would be in by Christmas, but delays in completing surveys pushed back her plans.
“We’re just patiently waiting for the closing day,” she said.
Despite the disappointment, the family had a “wonderful Christmas, and when we get that house, our family will be complete,” Charles said.
When they finally move in, she will have plenty of wall space on which to hang the family photographs that have become a point of pride and joy for Egypt and Harlem.
They’re images the pair eagerly point to whenever a guest arrives, showing them surrounded by family at Christmas, their summer trip to Galveston, Harlem’s pee wee football team, birthday parties and more.
It’s a happy ending that Hopkins would love to see more of in the new year, with Charles serving as an inspiration to other would-be parents willing to open their hearts and homes to the 5,900 Texas children awaiting their forever family, 300 of which are in Beaumont.
