Separated siblings reunited at camp
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- July
- 30
Sisters Khadijah and Fatima Rodwell don’t really know why they had to move in with separate foster families, other than that a judge had said it would be best.
And while they miss their mother, they also talk about how difficult it is to be living so far apart from one another: one sister lives in Yonkers, the other in Carmel.
At the very least, they agreed, it would be nice to have each other’s company to provide comfort.
“It’s very hard to explain,” said Khadijah, 11, dropping her head and adjusting her visor as she struggled to find the right words. “We’re sisters and everything, and yet we’re not together.”
“Sometimes I even cry,” said Fatima, 10, “like after a visit.”
Last week, the sisters were reconnected in the great outdoors, sleeping over at Camp Morty on the sprawling Mountain Lakes property. They were among nearly 40 siblings who have been removed from neglectful homes and have been reunited at camp.
Not many separated siblings get to do anything like this, as organizers said they knew of only about a dozen other camps like it across the country.
Launched this year, the “siblings session” is a joint effort of the Westchester County Parks and Social Services departments.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 11:09 am by Diana Costello.
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