We were notified that our foster license had been approved on a Thursday, the next day we got a call for our first placement, (Bluebird a 5 month old). The licensing specialist/homestudy lady/MAPP instructor was coming out on the same day we were called about Bluebird. She was coming with our new re-licensing specialist to make the transition. She came before Bluebird arrived, but after we knew that Bluebird was coming. We told her that we were waiting for our first placement, a 5month old baby, to arrive. She looked a little puzzled and remarked, "Oh, I thought that they were working on a 5 year old girl for you." We just shrugged our shoulders and got on with the process of handing us over to our new re-licensing specialist, who is basically our case manager..she is responsible for making sure we stay in compliance for fostering, as well as being our resource if we have any problems or questions. They left and Bluebird arrived, and we had a fun weekend as a new family.
On Monday, I received a call from Placements that they had a .......can you see it coming??....5 year old girl. Would we accept? Of course we said yes. Later that evening "Angel" arrived with her case manager. We saw them drive up and went out to meet them, out of the car popped this tiny blond haired, blue eyed little girl. Along with her came 5 boxes....4 of clothes and 1 with toys, books etc.. She also had a couple of bags of new clothes and school "uniforms" as she would be starting kindergarten in about a month. We came to find out that this little girl had been in care since she was 3yrs old. The foster mother that she was coming from had used her clothing allowance to get her new school clothes. The boxes of clothes I believe were all that she had come into care with, as well as what she had gotten in the two years she had been in care. Many of them were too small. And so our nest grew to include our little "Angel"
Angel had no hesitation about settling right in, unfortunately this was apparently nothing new for her. Angel is super smart and loved reading books, doing craft projects, dancing and watching iCarly. Angel is also very, very..ummm...busy. She kept us hopping all...day...long. She loved to draw pictures or write notes (Mama Bird how do you spell this word.....Mama Bird how do you spell that word....) she would then put them in envelopes and give them to different people. We went through more envelopes in those first few weeks than our whole lives up to that point. But her generous spirit warmed our hearts.
My hubby and I both work and since things had progressed so quickly from license approval to placements, we had yet to make day care arrangements, or even research what we needed to do. In our District (and the whole state I believe) day care for foster parents is paid for by a state agency which, after reading various foster blogs, I realize is not standard everywhere. While we are grateful for this, the hoops you have to jump through are crazy. Referrals have to be sent from each case manager, we then have to have proof of employment, you have to fill out a crazy amount of paperwork, and they usually ask for salary information. A lady who was taking the parenting classes with us had already been through the day care gauntlet and told us they do not need your salary information, foster children are automatically approved, and your salary has no bearing and is none of their business. So we told the agency we would not be providing that information. Not a big deal you would think, but aside from it not being their business, Hubby's check is direct deposited and he does not receive any type of paper in reference to his paycheck. If he needs a copy of his pay information, he has to go through a big pain in the butt process. I am self employed and don't always take a paycheck, so proof again is a pain in the butt. So we got the case managers to send referrals, the agency finds something wrong with them (We have found that this agency finds something wrong with EVERY referral) we contact case managers again. Did I mention that this agency does not answer their phones or return messages? By this time, I have taken these children to work with me for 2 days. Good thing I own the place. With our Busy Angel and a 5 month old, this can't go on much longer. Thank goodness for my Mom coming with me to help. Hubby and I finally decide to just take Thursday and Friday off from work to go down to the agency and get this thing done. We leave the baby with my Mom, and Angel comes with us to get all the paperwork done, the referrals straightened out. During the time we spend with the agency lady she sees Angels name (she also has an unusual name) and says, "Oh this is Angel, we have dealt with Angels case a few times." She gave us a look that said you guys don't know what you are in for. We were confused, as Angel is very busy, but her behavior has been pretty good so far. We would learn that Angel and school don't really get along.
We spent Friday checking out the day care centers on the list the agency gave us, and ended up having to put them in two separate centers. The one closest to our house also has an after school program where they get the kids from Angel's school. Perfect for Angel. They only take children 1 yr and older. Not good for Bluebird. The center we found for Bluebird is in a neighboring town. I work a good distance from home and this neighboring town is sort of on my way, it adds about 10-15 minutes to my commute. And we have DAYCARE!!
No comments:
Post a Comment