Our very close friends had a whirlwind match yesterday. They went into their first staffing informed, prepared and hoping for the best. They came home with two kids! They will have a weekend visit, take them back on Monday to gather their belongings and bring them home for good on Friday.
If they were chosen we thought it might be a fast transition because it's so close to the new school year...but wow. During their 2 1/2 hour drive home we dashed over to their house and straightened up the kids room and stocked up on kid friendly snacks. Our friends went to bed last night a little overwhelmed and shocked. From zero to mommies in just a few short hours.
Calling all instant families out there.....what can we do to support them through this whirlwind?
Showing posts with label waiting children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waiting children. Show all posts
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sue 'em
An adoptive mama in New Jersey is sueing DFS for not protecting her abused and traumatized daughter while in their care. Check out the full story here
"Individual lawsuits are pretty rare," Zalkind said. "You have to have someone who is willing to represent the child, and so often kids don't have that kind of support or advocacy."
It seems like so many foster care reform efforts fall short of making any big changes. A lawsuit doesn't seem like a bad idea. If you get hurt at work there is a recourse. As an adult if someone assaulted you -you could press charges. You could demand restitution through a civil suit.
Sometimes I really don't understand why the neglect/abuse that brings kids into care isn't cause for a criminal case. Even now in CJ's case, his SW has said if the same information was being brought in front of a criminal judge instead of a family judge there would be jail time. Why is it okay if kids are involved? I really don't understand.
Maybe if every kid who was not protected while in care was able to sue.... Maybe someone would listen. Maybe something would change.
"Individual lawsuits are pretty rare," Zalkind said. "You have to have someone who is willing to represent the child, and so often kids don't have that kind of support or advocacy."
It seems like so many foster care reform efforts fall short of making any big changes. A lawsuit doesn't seem like a bad idea. If you get hurt at work there is a recourse. As an adult if someone assaulted you -you could press charges. You could demand restitution through a civil suit.
Sometimes I really don't understand why the neglect/abuse that brings kids into care isn't cause for a criminal case. Even now in CJ's case, his SW has said if the same information was being brought in front of a criminal judge instead of a family judge there would be jail time. Why is it okay if kids are involved? I really don't understand.
Maybe if every kid who was not protected while in care was able to sue.... Maybe someone would listen. Maybe something would change.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Missouri's Waiting Kids
Just some sad facts today:
Who are Missouri's children waiting in the foster care system?
11,681 children are waiting in foster care
29% of foster children are between ages of 0 and 5
30% of foster children are between ages of 6 and 12
41% of foster children are between ages of 13 and 21
Average number of birthdays a child spends in foster care: 2 birthdays (26 months)
55% of children experience three or more foster care placements
15% (1,773) of children live in group care or institutional settings
What are Missouri's foster children waiting for?
6,095 (52%) are waiting to be reunified with their birth families
3,192 (27%) are waiting to be adopted
Average time foster care children have been waiting to be adopted: 36 months
Where did Missouri's children go after leaving foster care in 2004?
6,047 children exited foster care
3,374 (56%) were returned to their parents
1,337 (22%) were adopted
842 (14%) left to live with relatives or via guardianships
329 (5%) "aged out" of foster care at 18 or older
165 (3%) left for other reasons (ran away, transferred, died)
*Data from AFCARS (2004), ASPE Claims Reports (2005), and ACF Budget Reports (2005).
Friday, February 16, 2007
SW & CASA Visit
Our SW was here this afternoon. I always go a little nuts before these visits, cleaning like crazy and worrying that the house isn't good enough. I don't know why, it's always so laid back and barely any fuss. This same SW placed Lili in her former foster home and has seen her since she was a tiny 4 pound preemie released from the hospital at 5 months old. Lili always seems to remember her and clings to her while she's here.
We told the SW that we were open to calls again. She said she almost called with a 9 month old with Leukemia that needed to be moved to a different foster home to be close to the children's hospital -we're just blocks away. It just breaks my heart to think of a little one so sick. I think the placement office is closed Monday for President's day so we'll be expecting a call Tuesday.
So we might have a new foster child in just a few days.
Jo's CASA volunteer also dropped by to see her today. She was on Jo's case (and Vivi's and Eckida's) until her adoption and hadn't seen her since. She said that she looks so much bigger since October. Jo was actually quite the brat the whole time she was here....throwing fits, whining and just generally cranky. The girls have boycotted naps lately and that makes all of us pretty cranky by late afternoon.
We told the SW that we were open to calls again. She said she almost called with a 9 month old with Leukemia that needed to be moved to a different foster home to be close to the children's hospital -we're just blocks away. It just breaks my heart to think of a little one so sick. I think the placement office is closed Monday for President's day so we'll be expecting a call Tuesday.
So we might have a new foster child in just a few days.
Jo's CASA volunteer also dropped by to see her today. She was on Jo's case (and Vivi's and Eckida's) until her adoption and hadn't seen her since. She said that she looks so much bigger since October. Jo was actually quite the brat the whole time she was here....throwing fits, whining and just generally cranky. The girls have boycotted naps lately and that makes all of us pretty cranky by late afternoon.
Friday, January 12, 2007
The Lists
I wrote previously in this post about my frustration with waiting child lists not being available to all waiting parents. We have requested our local DFS lists just so we would be able to advocate for some of our friends currently starting their journey through the system.
This week we recieved the first of these lists. Just one CW's caseload of 40 waiting children.
Today we had one profile emailed to us from our homestudy worker. A two year old girl in between the ages of my two year old girls. Perfect health, no developmental delays and good attachment to her current caregiver. They're looking for homestudies to present to committee by January 31st.
Hint. Hint.
This week we recieved the first of these lists. Just one CW's caseload of 40 waiting children.
Today we had one profile emailed to us from our homestudy worker. A two year old girl in between the ages of my two year old girls. Perfect health, no developmental delays and good attachment to her current caregiver. They're looking for homestudies to present to committee by January 31st.
Hint. Hint.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Waiting Children....waiting parents.
So while reading The Open Window's blog I began thinking (again) about how utterly disorganized the US Foster/Adoption program is.
There are soooo many waiting children in this country, young (there are infants and toddlers out there -Lili was adopted as a waiting child at only 13 months) older, sibling groups, all races and ethnicities and varying abilities. But there are also waiting families out there.....how can that be you say? Because we have no system, we have no broad focused matching programs. Guatemala is considered a country ravished by poverty...yet they do more to find homes for waiting children than we are able to with all the resources and technology that we have.
Everything depends on where you live and what agency you go through. Our friends were licensed as foster parents this summer, they were very open in what they would accept and still waited months and months for a placement. Funny, I'm full and they're calling me twice a week. Our friends are licensed a private foster agency and we go through the Children's Division. We live within 15 miles of each other. My brother and SIL were waiting to be matched with an available child for almost a year....they're in a different county and their SW doesn't have access to the waiting kids 30 miles away. How sad is that?
There are soooo many waiting children in this country, young (there are infants and toddlers out there -Lili was adopted as a waiting child at only 13 months) older, sibling groups, all races and ethnicities and varying abilities. But there are also waiting families out there.....how can that be you say? Because we have no system, we have no broad focused matching programs. Guatemala is considered a country ravished by poverty...yet they do more to find homes for waiting children than we are able to with all the resources and technology that we have.
Everything depends on where you live and what agency you go through. Our friends were licensed as foster parents this summer, they were very open in what they would accept and still waited months and months for a placement. Funny, I'm full and they're calling me twice a week. Our friends are licensed a private foster agency and we go through the Children's Division. We live within 15 miles of each other. My brother and SIL were waiting to be matched with an available child for almost a year....they're in a different county and their SW doesn't have access to the waiting kids 30 miles away. How sad is that?
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