Naturally the day I decided to ignore the mess of a house and have sweat dripping off my nose I receive a call from our social worker. She told me that she started to call us earlier and stopped. Finally, she had no other choice but to call us. The placement she wanted to ask about was not within our age range for our license but was within our life experiences. If we decided to take this placement she would have to make a call to the state to have our license changed. The child needing a home was 16 years old.
I got all of the information from her and called my husband. After discussing it we decided to say yes. I called my social worker back and told her yes. She said that it was late and she didn't think she could get our license changed until the next day so we should think longer and call her in the morning.
A short time later I was showered and on my way to Larissa's gymnastics class. On the way I received another call from DSS. They cleared us with the state and needed us to take the child.....now. Within 15 minutes I received a teenage child while sitting at the gymnastics facility. All of the clothing she grabbed was wrapped up in a sheet and put into the back of my car.
Later in the evening we were heading to Walmart for unders and other personal items. Today I went to the high school to give our contact information. I also went to DSS with a list of items our foster daughter would like to have from her home. She does not have all of her school books and a lot of her personal items. Tomorrow there will be a court hearing to determine if she will stay in care. Every time children come into care, DSS has to go to court within 3 days to determine if there is just cause for the child to stay in care.
Teenage foster children are new to us. I tried to get answers to some questions today and didn't get many. If she stays in care I will have to get some answers.
She wants a job....can she?
Will she be able to do sleepovers?
She has a learners permit, will she be able to drive? (I assume no)
She wants to dye her hair...can she? (I got a "no" to this question)
What about cell phones or other teenage activities?
Tomorrow we will know if she stays in care. If she does then they will look for family that can take her.
By taking a teenager we have gone beyond our comfort zone. I think that some days we need to do so.
Three teenage girls in the house right now....say a prayer for us!
My age range is kind of narrow 2-7. My oldest girl is 9, and she's the easiest one. I agree, I think it's good to step outside our comfort zones. :)
ReplyDelete(PS - I think it's nuts that she, at 16, cannot make a decision to dye her hair..I mean it's not a tattoo, it's temporary. Who cares if it's green, orange, blue, or pink and purple stripes, it's not a permanent change.)
The oldest we had was 11 but some of the same issues. My other children could go down the road to a friend's house unsupervised but unless that parent would get fingerprinted, I had to go along in order for the 11 year old to go. Things like that. I really miss foster care but GA won't send the files. Now they are ignoring my calls. Same with the other situation. Makes you want to scream when people talk about the big need for foster or adoptive families.
ReplyDeleteI am simply not used to this. Usually after a new arrival, we head out to the store for diapers and formula. DSS told us that she was a runner. The first night we waited for her to run, but she didn't. She went to a game during the weekend and we waited for her to run, but she didn't. Every day we have waited for her to run, but she has not. So, I suspect that she in fact is a stayer.
ReplyDelete