Training Week 3

Our home visits and home study interviews are done; We are awaiting our clearances to arrive in the mail; Elisabeth is scheduled for the required infant CPR class (Paul will attend as soon as his schedule allows); And we only have two more weeks of training to go.

The classes this week dealt with topics such as aggravated circumstances, search for kinship and the phases of foster care and court hearings.

The aggravated circumstances raised my blood pressure a bit....There was discussion like "if the parent has previously murdered their child, and then has another child, that child may go straight to foster care." It also involved "if the parent(s) are in jail, or have disappeared and left the child with a friend who has no ability to care for that child..." The reflection of the scenarios of from which these children may come is the cold harsh reality of our world.

Our county has established a specific department related to searching for kinship. Much of this discussion revolved around older children who have been in foster care virtually their whole life and then "age out of the system." The county is required to search to what is the equivalent of a 3rd cousin to attempt to find homes for kids. Basically the goals of foster care are 1. reunification, 2. adoption, 3/4/5. various forms of guardianship for the child. If they never find someone to do this and a child "age's out" - most of these teens end up homeless with no where to go, no family, no home for the holidays. :-( Again, harsh reality.

The court part was probably the most light-hearted part of the night. We discussed all the players, explored the court rooms, talked about the phases of hearings and when they happen in the process. From the time a child is taken into custody, the goal is 15 months to decide if reunification is possible. If not, goals shift to adoption until termination (voluntary or involuntary) of rights occur. The good news about this, there is a time line. The bad news, I am sure it is still quite a long wait to see how things play out. This is what we are signing up for...the good the bad and the ugly. Somehow, I am certain there will be some wonderful mixed in with all the pain and tears.