Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1603 The Little Girl Who Was Fostered

Han Li turned around when he heard the voice and looked at the girl who was talking to him. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. However, foreigners tend to mature earlier, and she was quite large in the right places, with a figure that far exceeded that of Chinese people of the same age.

However, before Han Li could speak, the young girl saw him turn around and immediately took out two sachets from her bag and handed them to him.

"Sir, there's an AIDS outbreak in New York right now. Would you like to buy two, to give yourself or your partner extra insurance so you can be more unrestrained and carefree tonight?"

Han Li was speechless. He had never used such a thing before, and it was also the first time he had ever been sold condoms in this kind of situation.

Also, there are so many people here. Han Li is sitting in the least crowded area on the outskirts, and this little girl has come over to sell him this kind of thing. Does she think he looks like someone looking for a partner for the night?

After being speechless for a moment, Han Li waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need such a thing. The girl didn't say anything, apologized, and left.

Han Li didn't take this little incident seriously. He shook his head as he watched the other person's back and continued eating the hot dog and cold drink he had just bought.

After Han Li finished his food, he looked with great interest at the young people in the crowd who were performing breakdancing.

However, at this time, breakdancing had not incorporated many other elements, and the movie "Breakdance" had not yet been released, so its audience was not large without the support of a film.

In the United States, it is mostly people of minority groups such as Black, Mexican, and Latino who dance, while only a very small number of white people will join in and sway a few times.

Therefore, even though the music from the tape recorder in the venue was very exciting at that moment, the audience at the performance of these young people was not as enthusiastic as before, and the applause after their performance was sparse.

Han Li clapped his hands a few times and finished the last sip of his cold drink. At this moment, the little girl who had been trying to sell him the "Descendant Burp Bag" came over again and sat down next to him, speaking again.

"Sir, are you sure you don't need to buy two insurance policies?"

Han Li glanced at the girl speechlessly, then turned to look at her and asked her a question.

"If you were in school like this, you should be in eighth or ninth grade. Why are you doing this job at night?"

Han Li asked a question casually, which unexpectedly opened up a floodgate of conversation for the young girl.

This little girl is named Maeve Lawson. She originally had a happy family. Her father worked at a technology company, and her mother stayed at home to take care of her and her brother. They were considered a middle-class family in New York.

However, all of this changed last year (81). One night, Maeve Lawson's parents were opening the mailbox to collect the family bills when they were run over and killed by two high-dose black men who were speeding down the street in a stolen car.

A car accident shattered that happy family because the two Black men were penniless and couldn't afford any compensation.

Although, after deliberation by the jury, the two Black men, who should have served five years in prison, were ultimately sentenced to seven years and six months.

However, Maeve Lawson and her brother became orphans, and their house was foreclosed on by the bank because they couldn't pay their mortgage.

Maeve Lawson's brother is now sixteen years old and doesn't have to be sent to other foster homes by the child protection agency.

But Maeve Lawson was different. The Child Protection Service, using the newly enacted Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, placed her in foster care with a middle-class family in New York. Maeve Lawson's brother desperately wanted his sister to return home, but this was an extremely difficult task.

It's easy to take those children away, but it's very difficult to bring them back, even if the children and their foster families all agree, mainly because of those cold, hard rules.

According to the relevant laws and regulations, if you want to bring your child back, the child must have a sufficiently large independent room, the family's minimum monthly income must reach 850 Bells, and the monthly expenditure on the child's growth and education must be no less than 70 Bells.

Furthermore, it requires various stringent conditions, such as the approval of the child and the foster family, as well as confirmation from the protection agency, before it can be submitted to the court for a hearing and judgment that the child can return to the family.

However, Maeve Lawson's brother dropped out of school and started working as an apprentice at a car repair shop after their parents' accident. He has no hope of buying a house to bring his sister back before she comes of age.

Even though adopting Maeve Lawson would have meant significant tax breaks for foster families, she still didn't have a good time there.

Because of relevant regulations, Maeve Lawson's adoptive parents, although they did not treat her too harshly, had their own children and would subconsciously treat them differently in many ways.

Maeve Lawson was no seven or eight-year-old child; this life of dependence quickly brought her to her senses.

Maeve Lawson is able to see the difference in treatment between her adoptive parents, and she also has no hope that her brother will take her back when she turns sixteen.

Moreover, the saying "children of poor families learn to be independent early" is very applicable in any country.

Maeve Lawson's family troubles and her experiences in foster care made her more mature and thoughtful than her peers.

According to the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, Maeve Lawson knew that she would have to leave her foster family and live independently when she turned sixteen, and that she would have to support herself in all aspects of her life, including schooling and living expenses.

How can I go to school if I don't have money? How can I survive?

It's okay if you don't have money; the US has plenty of banks, and those banks have all sorts of loan agreements.

The loan is enough for you to finish college, but without unexpected windfall, you'll need to live a life of repaying the loan for ten or twenty years.

It's okay if you don't want to go to university or can't find a job. There are relief coupons available to help you make ends meet. You might not have enough to eat, but you won't starve.

However, no one cares about where you live. Even if you stay on the street at night and get "do-it" or freeze to death on the street or under a bridge in winter, it's still the same. This way, they can issue one less relief voucher.

Maeve Lawson knew what her future held, so she would go out every night to sell things and save money so that she could have a slightly easier life after she turned sixteen and not end up on the streets right from the start.

As for why Maeve Lawson sells things like "offspring sachets," it's thanks to the exorbitant fees the US charges small businesses and vendors, and also to the poor security situation in New York at night.

The cost of the "Descendants' Burial Bag" is cheap, and a small bag can hold a lot of children. It won't attract attention during the sales process, there are no official fees to pay, and it won't be targeted by any malicious individuals.

And then there's Maeve Lawson.
(End of this chapter)