Other People's Kids

New Prospects

Yesterday, I went home at lunch to meet a family. Namely, a mother and her two beautiful children, a 3-year-old girl and a 5-month-old boy.

Apparently, the father is in prison for at least the next year and a half. I'm sure there's a whole saga behind that sentence, but that sentence is all I know about that facet of the situation at this point.

Nobody was here yet when I arrived from work. Shortly after, "Vicki" appeared, and we caught up on events relating to "Josie". In this conversation I heard things The Wife had forgotten to mention along the way, like the fact that word on the street--including among "Josie's" peers and school staff--is that she's doing really well since she started to live here. Talk about a warm feeling of accomplishment. Some other small talk, and then another car appeared, driven by a county social worker we hadn't met and bearing the woman and her two children.

It was love at first sight. Between The Wife and the new kids, between the kids and the dogs and cats, and between pretty much everyone and everyone else, come to that. It all went very well. We formed a circle in the living room and everybody took a turn telling their story. The Wife gave a tour of the house to the new social worker and the family while I pumped "Vickie" for additional information.

The long and the short of it is that this woman, no more than a girl, really, as we estimate she's between 18 and 20, needs respite care one weekend a month. Glorified babysitting, really. Pardon us for thinking there's more to it than that. See, we checked our network and found that this particular county social worker is actually a Child Protection Services (CPS) specialist. There are definitely issues here we're not being informed of, and we're not appreciating it too much at this point...but for now we're going to give them the befit of the doubt that they have their reasons for not mentioning the deeper issues here. We'll find out in time, I suppose, if we get the assignment.

Of course, this necessitated another google session on adoption last night. A hazard of being willing to foster little ones, I suppose. Anyway, if we do this, it will be a great introduction to actually fostering infants and toddlers. A sort of gut check if we can actually do it without being torn up inside too bad when we have to let go. If we can't do it for a weekend a month, no way will we be able to do it for months at a time.

posted by Dan @ 6:35 PM