My Family Moments: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

One on One

It's been a while. I already have about 5 visits under my belt. Going back to the day before the first one, I was a nervous wreck. This was going to be the first visit with just her and I. No social workers, no parole officers, no one but my baby's bio-mom and me. I asked Erwin to to drive me to the location the day before so I knew where I was going. All I needed was to be lost on the first day in a neighborhood where I DO NOT belong.

Bio-Mom has been ordered to a half-way house (no clue if that's the correct title) where she will undergo recovery and training how to be a Mom. That is probably not what the brochure says specifically but it's the little bit of understanding that I have. For the first portion she is not allowed to leave the location so I will be taking "Little Man" to visit her once a week.

I didn't know what to expect and was met at the door by her counselor and supervisor of the program Jackie. Without describing it too much as to not give away it's location, it was like walking into a rundown apartment building. Inside I was welcomed by Bio-Mom with a huge smile on her face! She looked great! Honestly! No green prison clothes or rubber slippers. Her hair was down, not in a bun like it had been for the past 4 months. She was grinning ear to ear and so excited to see "Little Man". It has been 2 weeks and she was ready to love on him asap!

Returning to today, we sit in a living room each week. Pretty big and comfy. One wall lined with books and another with frosted windows you can't see in or out of. I sit on the couch and she usually sits on the floor with the baby. Here she can change him and feed him and play with him. I have 2 hours to watch her try to figure out what she is supposed to do with her son. It's very odd. There isn't anyone else in the room to fill up dead airspace. You can hear the ladies in the other room reading their journal entries to the support groups. Words like sober, pain, can't and help are repeated over and over again. My reality is not what it used to be. That is for sure.

To be continued....

"Foster Family" Terminology

SW: Social Worker = This is a professionally trained (at times I feel from a YouTube video) individual who works for any County or private organization. My foster baby will have a SW and I will have a SW who is also known as a CCW. (see below)

CCW: Clinical Case Worker = This is a professionally trained individual, also known as a Social Worker who works for Angel’s Foster Family Network. They are assigned to a maximum of 12 families at one time and lead them through the fostering system. They are our right hand gal. (no males as of yet) This person does all the legal pushing and pulling on our behalf so we can focus solely on loving and caring for our foster babies. I would not and will not ever do my job as a foster mom without these people.

Supervised Visit = The bioparent has rights to see their child no matter the circumstances. Most often the visits begin as 1 to 2 hours, 1 to 2 times a week. An adult that is approved must watch the parent with the child at all times. (sometimes a lot of work and sometimes boring as heck)

Unsupervised Visit = The bioparent has rights to see their child no matter the circumstances before. If they are improving their situation then they will eventually get the right to have visits without supervision. The foster parent must drop off the child at an approved location and pick them up later. Most often the visit is for 2-6 hours 1 to 2 times a week. And these will only increase in length as the situation improves. (super hard for the foster parent to move to this step)

Foster Baby/Child = A child that has been removed from their biological family due to many different reasons affecting the welfare of the child. They are then placed in protective custody under the County and State.