"Mothers from Heaven".. Foster and “Alternative Care” in Jordan: Children in Limbo— foster children and those in alternative care families are being deprived of fundamental rights.

“He just wouldn’t let go of my scarf… or of his father's finger.” That is how Heba (not her real name) recalls the first time she saw her son Karam, whom she and her husband fostered over six years ago. With his dark skin and distinctive chuckle, the three-month-old quickly stole Heba's heart.

After that first meeting, the couple began the long process of completing the paperwork to foster Karam (also not his real name), so that the next time they saw him they could take him back home with them.

They spent a long day in court with Karam until the decision was finally made and they could go home with the little boy. Heba’s employer gave her one day off as a “gift,” because the law does not grant foster mothers maternity leave, regardless of the child's age.

For the first few nights, the baby did not sleep well, not because he was crying, but because he spent the whole night staring up at the ceiling. Heba could not understand why, but the supervisors at the care home told her that he was used to being in a room with twenty other children, all sleeping in bunk beds. And Karam's bed in his new home was different.