Other People's Kids

More "Josie" Trouble (of course)

Josie's supposed to be with us tonight. No, she's supposed to stay with her mother. No, strike that, with us again. No, her mother again. No, wait, sounds like her mother took off to the bar and she's at her grandma's.

Sigh.

Last night she stayed with us, and it was a fight every step of the way. Some boys showed up on our doorstep and she had it in her mind that she WAS going to go outside and talk to them. We of course had it in our mind (not to mention in our instructions from the girls' home) that she WOULD NOT spend time with friends. We already were breaking that rule by letting "Melanie" stay over, and we weren't about to break it any further.

She just doesn't seem to realize that this is for keeps. If she screws up bad enough, not only may she not get to go home, she may not get to go to a foster home again.

Aargh! I can't take the jerking around I'm getting.

Of course, that's a foolish statement. I can and will take it, and most likely will ask for seconds and thirds before all is said and done. That's why I'm a foster dad, after all.

It reminds me of "Animal House". "Please, sir, may I have another?" Or maybe when I was a kid and Rubik's Cube came out. I drove myself bugshit with that thing until I figured out how to solve it in 1-2 minutes (a talent I've completely lost now).

Fostering: perpetually testing your tolerance for the intolerable and being pathologically unable to do the sensible thing and quit doing things like this to yourself.

Anyway, "Josie" goes back to the home tomorrow, which is not a day too soon. They clearly have more work to do on her before she's street legal.

posted by Dan @ 9:58 PM