When we fostered before all of our placements were in county. In the short time we stopped fostering they changed how they place children. They now have regions, sort of. Actually it seems like a free for all, whoever they can find and it doesn't matter how far away they are.
When we took Itty Bitty it wasn't bad, two counties over, a little less than an hour away. Close enough that we took him to his first visitation. If I had to I could have taken him to his doctor. Still it is an annoyance. His social worker picked him up for his last visit. As soon as she got there the family called and cancelled so she immediately turned around and returned him to us. Her time wasted - almost 4 hours and no visit occurred.
Then we received our other placement. They were working their way further and further away to find a home. We are almost 2 hours away. So far they have only had one visitation because, well, the parents are in jail. That one visit was an all day affair. As far as doctors, nope, I am not taking my brood 2 hours away for a doctor appointment. There will lots of doctor appointments because the mother says that they are behind on shots. In order to see a doctor around here you have to have the medical records first. I have called several places that take their insurance and have been told the same by everyone. Also, when you request records they have 30 days to send them! That means that we are relegated to urgent care or emergency room for everything. Makes it kind of hard to get that initial exam. When kids were in county it was easy, just take them to their doctor.
We are in a learning curve, no kids over 5 and they must be less than 1 hour away.
I have a child that was placed in Nov 2015, before the regionalization here (I am in the Charleston area). I wasn't taking a second child until fairly recently. The first child placed in May happened to be from my home county. This most recent one is from a county 1.5-2 hours away as well.
ReplyDeleteRegionalization makes it much easier for the placement worker to find a home, especially in the middle of the night. But makes things so much harder for everyone once they are actually placed - parent visits, caseworker doing home visits, court dates (I like to attend most court hearings if possible, but I am not driving 2 hours away for a court hearing on a child that I am not planning on adopting), doctors.
And then I was thinking that if this child from County A is placed in my home in County B... then if another child comes up needing placement from County B, my slot is already taken up, and then that second child may end up getting placed in County A. So messed up.
Yes, it helps to find a placement but it is a logistical nightmare. These social workers who are already overburdened are now driving all over the place wasting hours. It is crazy. Our second placement was supposed to be temporary, then they asked us to keep them.
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