My Family Moments: Catchin' up on the 4th

Friday, July 4, 2014

Catchin' up on the 4th

True compassion is not just an emotional response, but a firm commitment founded on reason. Therefore, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change, even if they behave negatively. Through universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. --- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

    Last week was the first unsupervised visit since BioMom screwed up in January. I have had the pleasure, uh-hem, of supervising since March. Two 2hr visits each and every week. I’m not even sure when the last time I blogged. (typing while waiting for an appt in my car with no wifi) I can’t see “Little Man” till noon today and he started off with clinging to my leg when we walked in the door to an attachment therapy appt for BioMom. 3^rd visit in a row he cried as I left. Only saving grace is he was with the awesome therapist who sees all that I see with BioMom and ”Little Man”.
    What should you know to catch you up? Umm… “Little Man” turned 20months this week. Yep, we still have him. Nope we are not adopting him. Yes, it’s going to be ridiculously hard on us when he leaves but more so for him. That is when the prayers are going to have to come double time. So rest up my friends! No, I’m not stronger than you. Maybe I’m less strong without the ability to say NO! lol… Naaaa… just love being a Mom.
    Ok, next… “Little Man” has a Daddy. Well, a Baby-Daddy-Uncle. I can’t explain. It is so crazy that the county and my agency have had a hard time wrapping the details around their heads. If anyone involved typed in a few specifics for a Google search, they would be able to find my blog immediately. No bueno! This would be one reason for no blogging for several weeks. I can say I didn’t need front row seats for Maury Povich to experience the show. I’m livin’ it!! A great thing or two has come from the drama as of late. BioDad is a great guy (age <20) who is really excited (kid in a candy store) that he has a son. In my opinion who wouldn’t be excited that they could claim “Little Man” as their own?! He has started services voluntarily (clean for 3 months.) Has a supportive family who seems to be alright in the grand scheme of things. My biggest hang up with BioDad is when he came forward he became the reason for 2 delays of terminating BioMom’s services. And now she has unsupervised visits. But more on that later.
   I hope I still have my readers. Thank you for patiently waiting. I am just as surprised as you how this case keeps progressing. I never thought I would gain all this experience in one case. Lucky me??

1 comment:

M&N said...: THANKS for the update! :0); Sunday, July 06, 2014

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"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.