One of the things foster parents frequently talk about is how many appointments are involved for foster children. Having worked with foster families before, I was aware of a lot of this which is part of the reason we decided I should stay home with the kids--so that I could be available for all of the appointments.
Since we've had the kids it seems like every other week is very busy. They see their biological parents every other week on 2 separate days and for some reason those weeks also tend to be when everything else gets scheduled. David and I were eating breakfast Friday morning, talking about the week and I decided to write out all of the foster care related phone calls and appointments we had last week. Just thought I'd share a glimpse into this crazy world.
Monday
3:30 3 people from CASA visit the house to meet us and the kids.
3:45 call from DFPS licensing to schedule a "random" home inspection for Thursday at 10:00 am. Text our agency case manager to let her know they are coming and she asks to come out this week to review the inspection information prior to the appointment Thursday.
6:10 Agency case manager comes out to go over home inspection info with us
Wednesday
9-3 gone to take kids to see mom and siblings 36 miles from home
Thursday
10:10 DFPS shows up for licensing inspection of our house
4:31 husband receives message from Superior asking to call back for a health screening for the kids
4:57 leave a message for superior to return their call
5:35 as we are finishing dinner, putting up dishes and getting one kiddo into bath , the kids' new CPS caseworker (because there basically hasn't been one for the last month) calls to schedule a time to come out. Schedule a visit for Saturday afternoon
Friday
Gone from 7:25-4:00 To take kids to a visit with dad 70 miles from home
10:00 am phone call from Superior wondering why you didn't return their message. Answer their questions for a "health screening"
3:30 3 people from CASA visit the house to meet us and the kids.
3:45 call from DFPS licensing to schedule a "random" home inspection for Thursday at 10:00 am. Text our agency case manager to let her know they are coming and she asks to come out this week to review the inspection information prior to the appointment Thursday.
6:10 Agency case manager comes out to go over home inspection info with us
Wednesday
9-3 gone to take kids to see mom and siblings 36 miles from home
Thursday
10:10 DFPS shows up for licensing inspection of our house
4:31 husband receives message from Superior asking to call back for a health screening for the kids
4:57 leave a message for superior to return their call
5:35 as we are finishing dinner, putting up dishes and getting one kiddo into bath , the kids' new CPS caseworker (because there basically hasn't been one for the last month) calls to schedule a time to come out. Schedule a visit for Saturday afternoon
Friday
Gone from 7:25-4:00 To take kids to a visit with dad 70 miles from home
10:00 am phone call from Superior wondering why you didn't return their message. Answer their questions for a "health screening"
Saturday
3:00 wait for CPS caseworker to come out
3:30 Call CPS caseworker to follow up. No answer
3:55 Call CPS caseworker to let her know we have something else to go to and are about to leave. CPS caseworker informs us that she had an emergency that she had to attend to and someone else was supposed to come out. She will call back next week to reschedule.
This schedule of course does not include school for both kids and all of the other things that go along with caring for a 2 and a 4 year old as well as our schedule of Community Group, seeing friends, and David's job search. Last week was definitely not the norm, but it still felt a little crazy to look back and all of the people we had to talked to about them over the course of just a few days! Luckily, this week we only have 1 appointment on our schedule--it definitely comes in waves!
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