The title of this one by a fifth grader at Hopkins Elementary tore me up.
"NEVER WANTED." "One day I was at school. It was picture day. My favorite day. Then all of a sudden my mom picked me up and said, "We're going to go get some lunch.

"I knew something was wrong because she was smiling more that she usually does when she sees me. Then about ten or fifteen minutes later we were at someplace, the DNA center. I asked her why we were there and she said that I was going to take a DNA test to see if XXXXXXXX was my dad. I met him and he was with his wife. I was happy and mad. I was mad because for ten long years he never bothered to come and meet me and it was the day before my birthday.

"We got tested and we waited for the results. A couple months later we got the results and he WAS my dad. A year later it was summer and I was visiting for three weeks (two at my aunt's and one at my dad's). It was fun but I was rarely with him. I was with his friend Susan, Tori and Thomas, Susan’s kids. Tori and had a lot in common.

"He was always working or with his friends. He was funny. Days went on and I finally had to leave. He dropped my off at my Aunt Ronnie’s house and he was afraid of her dog. The next morning I went on the plane and headed home.

“I had two emails, one from my mom and one from my dad. It said hi and to tell my mom hi.” Weeks pasted and even months and he never called me. I called him and it’s been six months since he last called me.”

Rusty here: When was the last time you contacted your away-from-my-home kids?

Readers please comment on these kids' stories. Thanks