June 18, 2008
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2nd Wednesday Post
NOW I remember another reason we quit fostering children. THE SYSTEM!!!!!
They canceled our appointment today because the county we used to live in didn’t get around to transferring our files to this new county. He couldn’t even come out to take a look out our house and give us the fingerprint forms to take in for clearing us from a criminal past! He said they HAVE TO wait until they review our file to be sure there was never a complaint filed against us. I told him the Oklahoma State Head of the foster department would give us a great review and recommend us highly (he personally called us several years back, as did the Oklahoma State head of the adoption department) and told him we had been considered an excellent home.
No go. Rules are rules.
Jesse is furious. I’m worn out from trying to keep youngsters happy and the house picked up. *I* need alone time, so I guess I’ll make the grocery store trip today while Jesse stays home with JanaLyn and the girls.
Venting for just a moment here:
WHY CAN’T THE STATE SEE THAT THE REASON THEY LOSE SO MANY FOSTER PARENTS IS THE LACK OF COMPETENCY WITHIN THEIR OWN OFFICES? IT’S RARELY THE CASEWORKERS WHO CAUSE PROBLEMS, BUT THE LAST MINUTE CANCELED APPOINTMENTS, NO SHOW APPOINTMENTS, ETC. THAT MAKE FOSTER PARENTS FED UP AND FINALLY GIVE UP AND QUIT! THE PAPERWORK MUST BE SO BACKLOGGED AND WITH NO CHANCE OF GETTING THEIR HEADS ABOVE WATER.
THE STATE IS DESPERATE FOR FOSTER FAMILIES AND WE’VE BEEN TRYING FOR OVER A MONTH JUST TO GET AN APPLICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, leaving for Wal-Mart ALL ALONE!!!!!
I can hardly believe I’ll have some alone time!!!——
over and out
Comments (6)
BIG BIG (((HUGS))) On their way to your house!
Tina
It is such a shame that offices can be so incompetent. Hope you had a good time all alone at Wal-Mart!
hey
Im megan
how are you??
http://www.vampirefreaks.com/there_for_tomorrow
I’m so sorry, Cheryl. How annoying. I hope your time around alone helped you rest a little.
Being a county caseworker (social worker) one thing I can say is that there is good and not so good workers. It is a job where they continue to pile more and more work on you..but a good worker rises to the occassion and prioritizes. Turst me I can look around me and see incompetence at times. In additon to working in the field of course we have servics for our disabled child. I am finally very happy with all of our workers. For a while we had a social worker that I know more than she did about her job. She was new and I have been at it for over 10 years. Hang in there….good foster homes are a blessing…..I know you and Jesse will once again make a difference in a child’s life.
@Ostara -
We only had one REALLY BAD caseworker. She was wretched. BUT, our state (and probably every state) has a system that once hired (and after passing a probation period) – you are guaranteed a job for life. She had been reported numerous times and received a zillion complaints, but they just kept moving her around, rather than get rid of her. If her name was mentioned within the DHS office, EVERYONE groaned because they didn’t like working with her any better than we did!!! Near the end of our fostering years, we refused to work with any but 3 caseworkers. One of them confided in me that the majority of degrees held by caseworkers in Oklahoma was a degree in Theater Arts. Not enough jobs for actors and actresses in this state, so they went for the state job with the benefits – Foster Child Caseworker! Yikes!