It’s been a little crazy so I haven’t gotten a chance to
update everyone in a while. So we are officially licensed to do Respite care.
Although I specifically asked if that meant we would be used for emergency
placements and was told no, it proved not to be the case. Within hours of being
told that we were on approved and were on the respite list we received a phone
call to take an emergency placement of a 2 and 3 year old. As much as it hurt
my heart to say no, we were unable to miss work and there was no childcare in
place.
About a week later I received a call on my way to work. I
didn’t hear it ring so as I listened to the voicemail my heart started beating
a bit faster. I called my husband and he was onboard so I called the social
worker back. She could have told me that he had 3 arms and juggled knives and
my mind would have not been changed. He needed us and we were ready to take
him.
It was a third grade boy who was about to transition back
home. We were told his foster parents closed the case on him because he didn’t
like doing homework. I think maybe they had just fell in love with this little
guy and needed to separate from him knowing he was going home. They picked us
because we were pretty close to his school and they wanted him to get to
continue there.
I was to pick him up after work that same day. After I got
off the phone with the case worker I realized how little I knew about how all
of this really works and how little information I received about him. I emailed
her a few follow up questions after scouring the internet for questions I should
have asked. The only one that I really am glad I found was “What is his
understanding of why he is in foster care?” I obviously won’t get into
specifics to protect his privacy but I think knowing what happened isn’t as
important as learning what the child perceived to happed. I picked him up at a
group facility and the workers filled me in more about him. He stayed with us a
week until his court date and was returned home.
I learned a lot from this little guy. He was really the
perfect first placement. He was a well behaved kid who loved God. He was a joy
to have over. I also learned that Respite isn’t always what it is said to be.
We were in fact his foster parents for a week. The loophole of us having a
Respite licensed allowed for this short term placement. We began our foster
care licensing classes the day the court ordered him back home. It was also the
day after my husband was able to officially adopt Jessi. Although it was a
crazy week full of big court decisions for my kids I feel like the judges made
the right decisions.
