The person who has had the most profound impact in my life to encourage me to work in education is my 10 year old niece whom I have yet to have the privilege of meeting. When my niece was born, I was recently employed by a special education school in Peoria, Arizona. I came into the education field from having worked at a restaurant for a decade. The job entailed managing negative behaviors such as physical aggression, self injurious behaviors, as well as aiding the students in any age range with toileting needs. I believed the job was challenging and I did not believe I had the inspiration to continue working with difficult students. I asked myself if this was the right fit for me. I wondered if I should return to what I was most comfortable in, which was the food industry. I learned about my niece being born, unfortunately, with narcotics in her bloodstream and was soon placed in foster care. Knowing that this child was part of my immediate family and that the biological parents were not fit to raise a baby at that time, I began to take the necessary measures to bring this baby home. This baby who at the time did not have a first name and was only referred to as Babygirl by the hospital staff and the court. I enrolled in foster care classes that would require me to leave my own child with a babysitter to be able to attend classes in the late evening, complete the necessary home studies and anything else that was asked of me. During this time, the biological parents had a deep desire to reunify with Babygirl and bring her home; however, with such drugs in her tiny body, that request was not going to be easy. Needless to say, they both failed to meet the necessary requirements to once again see their child and therefore, their parental rights were severed. I sat in the back of the courtroom for multiple visits and during these hearings, I learned that Babygirl not only had meth in her system, she had heart complications due to the drugs as well as random convulsions sporadically throughout the days. Babygirl was experiencing drug withdrawal and at that time, while listening to the lawyers speak of all of the health complications my baby niece was experiencing, I felt at that moment that this child was going to require more care than a typical newborn or much more care than what I had provided to my own child. It dawned on me that it could be a possibility that what Babygirl was experiencing could potentially lead to long term complications such as development delays, learning disabilities and cognitive challenges. I deemed it necessary at that moment to continue my employment with the special education school and learn as much as I could at the thought that I could potentially bring home a newborn that would eventually grow to become similar to those students I had the privilege of working with. I was not fully aware of the challenges Babygirl was experiencing other than what was shared within the court and I also did not know what the outcome of the hearing would come to; however, I knew that I needed to be prepared. It has been a total of 10 years and 3 months since the birth of Babygirl and to this day, I do not know her name or if I will ever be blessed with the opportunity to meet her. But I do know that when the time comes, I will be ready to take on any challenge as she has been my inspiration to stay working within the special education community so that I can provide her with anything she may need. My work with children with many different learning disabilities has been a challenge. I have been working as a teacher assistant and after 10 years, it is a pleasure to continue my growth and move onto a more challenging task and teach the wonderful new kiddos that I will have the pleasure of meeting, in hopes that it will be my very own niece whom I will be meeting.