In the U.S. alone, there are nearly half a million kids in the foster system on any given day. And roughly 690,000 kids have spent some amount of time in foster care.

And yes, those ARE your tax dollars at work – saving kids.

In 2013, a woman who goes by the name of Lindsay Rae on Facebook posted a story about her trip to Walmart in which a couple openly mocked a woman wrestling with not only 5 kids but the social services that went along with caring for them.

It’s not uncommon – people are cruel.

Of course, it says more about their lack of class than it does about anyone else when they spout off racist and classist garbage.

And that’s precisely what Lindsay overheard.

In a story that’s been shared over a quarter of a million times since it was posted, the mother of 9 (including foster children) began:

“Last night I found myself sandwiched in line waiting to check out, this is not an odd occurrence. The woman in front of me had 5 children she was wrangling (which did not seem odd to me), as well as the fact that the children were a mix of Caucasian and Hispanic short people. (again hmph…didn’t notice until it was pointed out to me).
Yes, I said pointed out.”

It turns out the people in line behind her decided to trash talk the struggling woman, whispering things like:

“How many baby daddies do you think she has?”
“Can’t even dress those kids for weather.”
“Just wait until she whips out the food stamps.”

Where they saw something to judge, Lindsay saw a familiar sight – a struggling foster mom.

“I looked forward to see a woman fumbling with separating clothes items; coats and shoes socks and underwear from the food items with the black plastic separators.

There five kids, two that shared her same blonde hair with jackets and warm shoes and three, beautifully dark-haired and deep brown eyes, sad, eyes; wearing shorts, and flip flops.
It was true she was struggling with a food stamp card. Didn’t know what buttons to use to complete the transaction.”

What really set her off was hearing the couple sigh and one of them say: “There’s our tax dollars neatly at work.”

She said she shot them “the death glare only a mother of 9 can execute to perfection.”

Lindsay was appalled at what she called the “CRAP” they were spouting and reached out to help the mom. And it made a huge difference.

“I stepped forward and kindly said, can I help?
These things are so confusing.
She looked at me.
I quietly asked ‘Foster or Adopted?’
I have 9 kiddos…two bio, I get it, please let me help.”

The woman replied:

“New Foster Mom, this is my first time using one of these, they came 3 days days ago, gonna be with us for a while.
They gave us food, but the kids needed clothes, but no stipend has come through yet.”

That’s the woman they were making fun of – a woman who would open her home to kids in need.

Lindsay continued:

“I looked at the kids and smiled, and turned to her and said: ‘beautiful children I am glad you all have each other.’
I showed her how to use her card as the jackholes behind us snorted.
I explained to her how she doesn’t have to separate items and that the items get separated by the computer at check out and how she pays the balance after she runs her card.”

After assuring the foster mom that she’s got this, Lindsay gave her a side hug as the woman handed out the new coats to the kids.

None of the reality of the situation made the couple change their stance. So Lindsay turned around and let it all out with tears in her eyes.

She said:

“Those children? They lost the right to live with their parents just days ago, those clothes? probably the only clothes they own, or got to leave their home with.
THAT woman? Opened her home to kids, kids that needed a safe place to go, when the one they lived in no longer prooved safe enough or secure enough for them. The food stamps, something health and welfare helps an already mother to two feed three new mouths.
There are not nearly enough women or people like her this world.”

She returned to unloading her groceries but added:

“AND even IF those kids were all hers, and she had a dozen “baby daddies” and was on food stamps..no child in this country or any other deserves to be cold or hungry, I am sorry, but your behavior? Poorly done, VERY poorly done.”

But people like this can never admit they were wrong. So instead they left silently and got into another line.

Hopefully, they did some soul-searching as well.

Lindsay got a thanks from the cashier.

“As I finished checking out the girl checking me out smiled and winked, ‘single mother on WIC, what you said? Rocked!’
I grimaced and said ‘thanks, I wasn’t sure I should have gone off like that…hug those babies of yours tight tonight.’

She cried hard when she got to her car, consoling herself with some M&Ms.

She closed her story with a shout-out to foster moms:

“You foster mama’s out there…hold your heads high, you are the hands and hearts that are the strong and the steady for small ones when they need it most. Hats off and so much love today to you.”

At the very least, those classless people might think twice about voicing their uninformed opinions out loud in the future.

You can scroll down to see Lindsay’s post in its entirety.

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Source: Lindsay Rae via Facebook, Children’sRights.org