We Have An(other) Emergency – Pt. 6

Foster Care

Charles/Alyssa, 8, 2

This is where our status as an “emergency placement” home takes a hiatus.  We received a call in the late evening, letting us know that there was a sibling set of three that were just removed and needed an immediate placement. We were in no position to take three children, and we let DHS know that. They asked if we could at least take two kiddos. We asked what ages, and they said whichever ages you would like, “we have 8, 4 and 2”. In the moment, it was hard to concentrate and make an informed decision, so we left it up to DHS. They said they were on their way to our house, and would most likely be bringing the 8-year old and 2-year old.  At this point, we asked “what gender?” and were met with silence. Eventually, the placement worker said “not sure… I assumed girls, but I am just guessing”. It was clear that the situation was chaotic.

About 20-minutes later, unmarked state vehicles were parked in front of our house, and two children, an 8-year old boy, and a 2-year old girl were walking up our front steps. To this day, it is heart breaking to reminisce on their appearance and condition when they arrived. The best word to describe their appearance is “filthy”, and we do not use that word lightly. They were both covered in dirt and grime, so much so that their skin color changed after the second bath each of them had.  The 8-year old boy had dreads in his hair from tangles, and shoes that were too small his toes had ripped through the front.  The 2-year old girl was very scared, and was wearing rain boots, no pants, no diaper, and a t-shirt.  We were told that they were removed from under a bridge, the family was suffering from houselessness, and that the police found them due to a domestic violence incident.

What about the 4-year old you ask? Well she was actually 13-months old, and placed in another foster home. Continue reading “We Have An(other) Emergency – Pt. 6”

Forever – Foster Care Isn’t Forever

Forever

It was never going to be forever. When we started the journey of becoming foster parents, it was not with the hope or goal of adoption. We became foster parents because we wanted to help children in need, and support families during tough times.  DHS knew this, we knew this, the bio-parents of the children who have been in our home knew this. Even the kids coming in to our home knew this, as over time we therapeutically explained our role to them. No matter how much you remind yourself of this, and talk to those around you about your role, and tell DHS your boundaries, it doesn’t make a kiddo transitioning away from your home any easier.

When people learn that we are foster parents, they often say nice things to us, like “what you guys are doing is so amazing”, or “I am so glad there are people like you in the world”, then follow it up with some awkward statements, and finally end with the following:

Continue reading “Forever – Foster Care Isn’t Forever”

Letter to Ariel*

The following is a letter I wrote to our 9-year old Foster Daughter Ariel*, upon her leaving our home after a nearly 16-month stay with us in our home. The note was handed to her with a bouquet of flowers as she walked out our front door. She was leaving us to move in with her potential adoptive family, who she had been spending weekends with over the past month-and-a-half.

Dear Ariel,

We first met you on November 4th, 2016, when you and Trevor* first came to our home.  Over the past 15+ months, we have had the joy and privilege of raising, helping, and caring for you and your brother, but most of all, we got to enjoy your company, personality and watch you grow into an amazing person.

We made so many memories together, and we are grateful for every one. We remember the first day we sent you off to school, and taking you to the beach for your first time.  There were trips to the zoo to see animals, the Children’s Museum to play with other kids in the vet room, and OMSI to see the LEGO exhibit.  You and Trevor were the first kids we have ever had at our house for Christmas, Thanksgiving, our birthdays, Easter, Halloween, and St. Patrick’s day.  That is something that is very special to us and that we will always remember.  You even helped us move to our new house!

You are such an amazing, strong, confident, and incredible person. You have experienced so much in life, and you continue to amaze us everyday with your positive attitude, determination, and incredible personality. You are a beautiful individual, and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish in life. You are amazing sister to your brother, and you have done a great job helping him, caring for him, and especially being patient with him.

Today is bittersweet. We love you so much. You have been an amazing daughter. We always knew that this day would come, the day where you transition from our home towards your forever family, but now it is here.  We are sad that we will not see your big smile around our house as often, or hear you sing in the living room, but we are happy that you are transitioning to a wonderful home with people who will love and care for you as much as we do.  We are happy that although you are not going to be at our house as much, Mark* and Rachel* are gaining a wonderful daughter, and Luke* a great sister.

Always remember, there are so many people in the world that love you deeply. Everybody you have met while living with us will miss you deeply, but are also very happy for you. These people love you and will always be here to support you, no matter what.

This isn’t “good bye”, it is “see you later”, and we will see you soon.

Love,

Aaron and Jewell

Thanks for reading, if you have questions or comments, feel free to post them in the comment section below, we would love to hear from you.  To receive updates when a new post is published, click the “Follow” button, we appreciate your interest in our journey. You can also “like” our page on Facebook.

Dear Foster Curious

Interested in becoming a foster parent?

We didn’t come out as potential foster parents until we took in our first kiddo. We didn’t tell anyone we were taking classes to become certified as foster parents, because we wanted to give ourselves the ability to back out. Becoming a foster parent is a very big and very personal decision, that for better or worse, tends to define a part of you. For us, we went into the first foster parent orientation class as a curious couple, not sure if foster care was for us or not. We left, feeling like it was something we were interested in pursuing… but we didn’t tell anyone.  As we got farther into the process, and closer and closer to being certified, we told a few family members, a few coworkers so we could adjust our work schedules, and some of our closest friends. Most of our family and friends had no idea that becoming a foster parent was something we were interested in doing until we posted on Facebook the night Ava (4-hours) was sleeping soundly in her crib the first night she was placed in our home.

Continue reading “Dear Foster Curious”

Foster Care Wishlist

*If you have kids over five, please see our updated post, “wishlist part 2.”

No matter how much you prepare yourself to be a foster parent (or parent in general), you will never be fully prepared.  Being a foster parent throws some additional curveballs in the preparation process for becoming a parent, and honestly, with each placement the only thing that gets easier is that you are more prepared to be unprepared.  As many of you probably know, during our certification process we anticipated being foster parents to school-age children, but our first placement was Ava*, an infant, who arrived at our home 4-hours after the initial placement phone call.

When becoming a parent, you often have 9ish-months to prepare.  You can use this time to freak out, paint the bedroom, clean the house, stock-up on necessary and unnecessary supplies, over-analyze, host a baby-shower, spread out expenses over months, and yes, freak out.  To become a foster parent, it took us a little bit less than 6-months from the start of our journey to our first placement.  During that time, we prepared our home to pass the DHS Home Inspection (fire extinguisher = check!), and emptied the room that our future kiddo would occupy, save for a twin bed.  Beyond that, we had no idea if we should get toys, clothes, and decorations for a 5-year old boy, or an 18-year old girl, or anyone in between.  And it turns out, we should have ditched the bed, set-up a crib, and prepared for an 11-month old little girl!

All we are trying to say is, “preparing for a placement is very difficult”. Our first placement was just as difficult as preparing for our 5th and 6th.  These are little humans, all with their own needs, and the amount of time you have between when you know they are coming, and when they arrive can be measured in minutes or hours, not months. Many of the items you purchase for your kiddos need to be and should be sent with them when reunification occurs (clothes, toys you bought them, hygiene products, etc.), but some things you buy, are considered items for the house, and you can keep for the next placement.  This phenomenon explains why we have a double jogger and single jogger as well as a pack-n-play taking up valuable storage space while there are no toddlers currently in our home. Continue reading “Foster Care Wishlist”

The State Of The System Audit

As we write this, yesterday was the 2018 State of the Union address (SOTU), but today we heard and read something that was a lot more personal. We are calling it the State of the System audit (SOTS), and it was quantitative and qualitative look at the state of the foster care system in Oregon… where we are foster parents.  This audit of the Oregon Foster Care System and Oregon DHS, is a very detailed look and exposure of the issues affecting youth in foster care, foster parents, and caseworkers across Oregon. It is damning. For a summary press release from the Secretary of State, click here. It has also been heavily covered by local new organizations.

It is damning. For a summary press release from the Secretary of State, click here.

If you are a subscriber or regular reader of the blog, first, THANK YOU! Second, you have probably noticed that we haven’t posted much lately or frequently. One reason is that life is crazy busy, and we have found it difficult to find time to write our longer form posts about our journey as foster parents, that we hope provide insight, growth, successes, failures, heart breaks, and exhaustion we experience on a daily basis. The other reason is; every time we sit down to write a post, we feel like it quickly turns into a negative post complaining about the system, lack of support available to foster parents, the disservice being done to the children is the system, and overall frustration we have regarding the State of the System that we are experiencing. However, reading the State of the System audit provided validation for everything we have been feeling.

Continue reading “The State Of The System Audit”

One Year

Anniversary

We are writing this post after tucking Trevor and Ariel into bed for the night, 365 days after the first time we ever tucked them in. Today is the 1-year anniversary of them entering our lives and it is bitter sweet. When we opened our home to these kiddos (Possible Placements), we agreed to care for them for the weekend. If we said no, they would have spent the weekend in a hotel with a staff member from DHS.  After one weekend, and with nowhere else for them to go, we decided we would continue to care for them as long as we could, or as long as they needed us.  So, that is how we got from one weekend, to one year.

This anniversary is strange. We have been fostering for about 18-months now (Our First Year in Review), and have cared for 6 very special kiddos, but Trevor and Ariel have been in our lives longer than the other 4 combined.  On one hand, this anniversary is quite an achievement and a milestone representing a lot of love and hard work, as well as growth and progress. It is something we can be proud of. It represents our family and the bond and love we have grown and worked so hard for. However, the anniversary also symbolizes failure, loss, struggle, and uncertainty. So much has happened in the last year, but not much has actually happened.

So here we are, one-year in to fostering these awesome kids, and although we have done so much for them, and experienced so much with them, on paper, we are in the exact same place as we were a year ago. 

Continue reading “One Year”

Childcare… Or How to Improve the System

One of the biggest barriers for current foster parents, or people interested in becoming foster parents, is access to childcare.  As discussed in You Get Paid for This, Right?, the reimbursement rate provided by DHS in Oregon does not cover the expenses associated with providing for and raising these children, and it has no stipend for child care.  As any parent who has looked into infant care, daycare, after school care, or babysitting has realized, child care is expensive, sometimes prohibitively expensive. As a family of two working foster parents, we rely heavily on childcare to make being a foster parent possible.  Although paying for child care definitely takes a toll on our monthly budget, we also understand that we are extremely lucky/privileged to be able to afford child care for our kiddos. We also have family who live very close, and help with child care needs as well.

There are many people in our community who would make amazing foster parents, and so many of them would love to be foster parents…but they work, and would need childcare for their kiddos.  Realizing that DHS does not provide any reimbursement, stipend, or support in regards to childcare can be a major deterrent to so many potential foster parents. These people want to help, but they also work, and do not have the financial ability to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a month for child care.  This childcare dilemma can be especially burdensome for single individuals interested in becoming foster parents as well as working couples.

Obviously, finding and paying for childcare is a difficulty for many parents, foster or not. This is not a post to argue about the pros and cons of having your children attend childcare, or whether or not it is more beneficial to have a stay at home parent, this is a post about how DHS may be able to improve the system and recruit more foster families through minor tweaks to the system.  Although childcare is an issue for many families, we feel it is important to address some additional factors that can make it especially difficult for foster parents to find childcare, and why childcare is important for foster parents.

 

“This is not a post to argue about the pros and cons of having your children attend childcare… this is a post about how DHS may be able to improve the system and recruit more foster families.”

Immediacy

First, there is the immediacy of the need.  As discussed in Four Hours, there is a lot of uncertainty that comes with a placement.  Placements can come to you quickly, and you may not have a lot of time to plan and get logistics figured out.  In our city, finding quality, affordable childcare with vacancies is difficult if you have 9-months to plan, and nearly impossible if you have only hours or days.

Uncertainty

Second, there is the unknown timeline. Sometimes, there is a safety need to remove a kiddo from their bios, and they need a place to stay for a few days or a couple weeks.  Other times, a kiddo may be placed with you for “a weekend”, but it turns into months or years.  Finding childcare is difficult enough, but finding childcare that is flexible and understanding of your uncertain timeline is damn near impossible. Many want enrollment for the year, large deposits, cancelation fees, etc.

Adjustment

Third, there is the unknown of how your kiddo will handle childcare.  Many kiddos in foster care are perfectly happy in childcare and school, they enjoy playing with peers and trust their teachers or care givers. Others, however, may have never been to school or childcare, or played with their peers, some will have behavior or trust issues, and may not be capable of attending a typical childcare. They may get sent home repeatedly, or asked not to attend any more because their behaviors are disruptive, or the provider is not equipped to handle your kiddos needs. Often times, even finding a babysitter that is competent enough to handle the behavioral issues of your child on a one-on-one basis can be difficult and expensive. Having to leave work early and immediately to pick up your kiddo can be a deal breaker for working foster parents and their employers.

So, not only is childcare often cost prohibitive for potential foster parents, even if it is not, it can be logistically prohibitive. We believe DHS is missing out on some of the best potential foster parents because of this child care dilemma. Many people familiar with the system and the current crisis in Oregon, realize that child care for foster parents and kiddos is an issue.  So how do we fix it? Obviously, DHS is strapped for cash (funding), and foster parents are not asking for reimbursement for in Au Pair, nanny, or even the local Montessori pre-school. Instead, we are just asking for a little support with childcare to make being a foster parent, with all of the challenges listed above, and then some, a little more manageable.

“We believe DHS is missing out on some of the best potential foster parents because of this child care dilemma.”

How Can This Childcare Dilemma be Improved?

We believe DHS should establish day care programs for foster children at their branch offices, or at multiple centralized locations. The foster care crisis is real. The need for individuals, couples, parents, and families to become certified and open their homes to the vulnerable children is enormous.  The barrier of entry for many to become foster parents is the childcare dilemma. It is time for DHS and the community to get creative to remove this barrier of entry and improve our community’s ability to care and provide for the most vulnerable in our society.

How Would This Work?

DHS, which already has visit rooms, play areas, and more at their branch offices, could do some minor remodeling and reorganization to create a childcare facility in their branch offices.  If this is not feasible, they could establish child care facilities at an offsite location, possibly even partnering with an established local child care provider.  The program could be offered, for free, or possibly at cost, to foster parents. Participation in the program would not be mandatory, and if a foster family opted out of the program, it could be possible for DHS to provide them a rebate for services not used. It wouldn’t be much, but it would increase the minimal reimbursement rate currently provided.

These DHS childcare centers could be ran by DHS staff, such as SSAs, caseworkers in training, and volunteers who have passed the required background checks.

“DHS, which already has visit rooms, play areas, and more at their branch offices, could… create a childcare facility in their branch offices.”

What Are The Benefits?

This approach could benefit all involved. It could benefit DHS, foster parents, children in foster care, bio-parents of children in the system, and the advocates of kiddos in the system.

More Foster Parents

It is not a secret that the foster care system in Oregon, but also around the nation, is in crisis. Oregon DHS is being sued and investigated, for not protecting the kiddos in their care, and for not having foster homes available to place kiddos in.  This proposed program, providing affordable and reliable child care for kiddos, could allow many potential foster parents who have not made the leap into foster care because childcare is a barrier of entry, to finally make the jump to become foster parents. This would greatly alleviate the crisis, by increasing the number of caring homes available for kiddos.

DHS Oversight

Having a centralized childcare location for kids in foster care allows DHS to have more consistent contact with the children in their system. Having children attend childcare provided by DHS allows DHS to easily monitor and observe the children in their care, including routine medical check-ups, screening for lice, ring worm, tape worm, rashes, and other medical issues common to kiddos coming into the system. It also allows them to monitor for potential signs of abuse or neglect in the foster home as well, which unfortunately, is all too common.  Currently, the CW is required to see the kiddos at least once a month, to make sure everything is going well. This centralized child care scenario allows for the caseworker to easily check up on kiddos, and also talk to them when the foster parents are not around, to allow them to speak-up if things are not right at their foster home.

Accommodating Childcare

As mentioned previously, childcare can be difficult to find for kiddos in foster care due to behavioral issues. Having a staff of DHS trained caregivers, who understand the trauma these children are processing, could mean that when a kiddo is elevated, instead of getting sent home, they are receiving the intervention, deescalation, attention, and support they need to process their feelings.  It also means that a foster parent will not have to leave work immediately and race through traffic to pick up their kiddo, and risk losing their job.

Benefits for Bio-family

The bio-family of these children have lives too.  A lot of the time, they are trying to get their lives back on track. Between meetings, jobs, housing interviews, and working with DHS, their schedules can be hectic…but they still want to see their children.  Sometimes, the available visit times offered by DHS, which are often based on the kiddo’s schedule, the foster parent’s schedule, SSA availability, and visitation room availability, but are not the best times for the bios.  Having kiddos in childcare at or by DHS, would allow more flexibility in the visitation schedule.  Bio’s could schedule a visit during a time where their child would already be in the care of DHS, and it would not require the coordination of an SSA or the foster parents.

“The bio-family of these children have lives too.  A lot of the time, they are trying to get their lives back on track.”

Having a DHS based daycare could also provide an opportunity for bio-parents to volunteer in the childcare program, with their kids, to gain parenting skills. Many bio-parents are required by DHS to attend parenting classes, to improve their skills and abilities, and volunteering in this DHS supervised program could allow the bios to gain the hours, practice, and experience they need, all while under supervision of DHS. This would assure that they are truly making the required progress, as opposed to just the required attendance.

Medical Appointments

Many of the children that come into care have faced years of neglect or inadequate care.  Part of the process of entering care is receiving all of the care you should have received previously.  We have learned that it is not uncommon for kiddos to have severe dental degradation, unaddressed mental health issues, unaddressed allergies, and numerous assessment needs.  This adds up to an incredible amount of appointments, so many that we require spreadsheets and multiple calendars to track them.  Between therapy, dental visits, neuro assessments, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and the list goes on, the appointments alone can be enough to make you realize that having a career and being a foster parent is almost impossible.

If DHS offered a centralized childcare approach, they could greatly assist with attendance to these appointments.  There is the possibility of providing these services on site, like having a dentist who accepts the DHS provided health insurance (often hard to find), come to the site once a week to do check-ups and cleanings. The same could apply to all of the various forms of therapy that these children need and deserve.  If bringing the medical professionals on-site is not an option, at the very least, the SSAs could have an easier time transporting the children to and from the appointments, because they would already be at DHS.

Advocate Access

Lawyers are busy. Kiddos in care have lawyers, and these lawyers need to see them on a somewhat regular basis, but especially prior to court hearings.  Trying to schedule appointments with a lawyer, or multiple lawyers, depending on the number of kiddos you have or the number of lawyers each kiddo has, can be extremely difficult. Between the kiddo’s appointments, their school schedule, your work schedule, and the lawyer’s availability…good luck.  If the children are in a DHS provided daycare, it could make it a lot easier for the advocates of the children, including lawyers, CASAs, etc. to visit the kids and have a better understanding of how they are doing, what their needs are, and what the plan going forward should be.

It Can Be Good For The Kids

It isn’t always fun to be different than everyone else. To not be able to talk openly with your peers about issues you are dealing with, because they have never experienced them.  It can be hard when your foster parent walks in to the class room to pick you up from after school care, and your best friend says “Is that your Dad?” and you don’t know what to say. It can be hard to be surrounded by peers who have no understanding of why you are “the new kid” at school, and can’t understand why you aren’t “happy”.  Being at a childcare center with other children who are experiencing the same difficulties and can relate to the trauma you have experienced can be beneficial to kids in foster care. It helps them understand that they are not alone, that this awful thing is not happening to them alone, that it is not their fault, and that there are others who can relate to them.

Separate but Equal (Segregation)

We should address the elephant in the room. Is centralized DHS childcare actually a form of “separate but equal”?  At face value, it is easy to make this comparison. Yes, sending all children in foster care to a childcare facility that is exclusively created for children in the system, no matter how quality that facility is, is “separate but equal”. What we are discussing though, is not a requirement to send children in foster care to these programs, but merely an option. In fact, best case scenario, a foster family does not need to exercise this option, and instead DHS increases their monthly reimbursement rate for not using the service provided. This is an option, an option that could provide a lot of benefits to the children, to the system, to the bio-families, to the advocates, and to foster parents, and perhaps make a dent in the current crisis and shortage of homes.

There is No Good Answer

There is no good answer. No matter what we do, no matter how much money, training, support, etc. we put towards helping bio-parents who are struggling, there will always be children who enter the system. Although foster parents are not provided adequate financial assistance to provide for the children in their care, substantially increasing the reimbursement rate is not the answer. It could create problems that the system has experienced previously (like foster farms), that have created this current crisis, leading to kiddos in foster care being abused and neglected for money.  The best answer we can think of, is creating an eco-system that encourages those who want to and are capable of being foster parents, but are currently unable to because of careers and child care costs, to have the ability to become foster parents. DHS provided childcare seems to be an option that could make this a possibility.

“The best answer we can think of, is creating an eco-system that encourages those who want to and are capable of being foster parents, but are currently unable to because of careers and child care costs, to have the ability to become foster parents. DHS provided childcare seems to be an option that could make this a possibility.”

There is a crisis. The crisis has occurred because for too long, people who are not capable of loving, caring, and providing for children in the care of DHS, were handed child upon child. The only way they could make it work was through “economy of scale”, by taking on more children then they could responsibly care for. Now, these homes are being systematically shut down (as they should), but it is creating a crisis is our system, as there are now more children than responsible homes and beds available.  DHS is being sued  for housing children in their offices and in hotels for nights, weeks, and months.  The lawsuit is correct, these children have the right to a better living situation. Unfortunately the lawsuit does not appear to provide a solution to the systemic problem. Suing DHS brings attention to the problem, but it does not solve the problem.  DHS is acutely aware of the crisis they have on their hands, but the solution is not a class action lawsuit, the solution is bringing more qualified, competent, compassionate, and caring people into the foster care program.  Our opinion is that the majority of the people who meet this criteria, would be able to become foster parents if care was more affordable and more accessible for foster parents.  We believe this could be achieved through a centralized childcare program through DHS, which would benefit the children, foster parents, bio-parents, advocates, and DHS.

Thanks for reading, if you have questions or comments, feel free to post them in the comment section below, we would love to hear from you.  To receive updates when a new post is published, click the “Follow” button, we appreciate your interest in our journey. You can also “like” our page on Facebook.

Request for CASA

When we began to sense that Ava’s caseworker may not be making decisions in Ava’s (or her family’s best interest), we began pushing back. We would write e-mails to her CW, to our Certifier, and her lawyer.  Often we would get a response that sounded something like “We hear your concern, and we will take it into consideration”, and we would realize that in the end DHS is not obligated to listen to the concerns of foster parents, and foster parents have very little clout regarding the legal decisions being made for the children they are caring for.  It was at this point that we started the process of requesting a CASA for Ava. Continue reading “Request for CASA”

It Takes A Village

Village

“It takes a village to raise a child”.  This saying is such a cliche, but as foster parents, we have an ever expanding village helping us raise our kiddos. We are so thankful for the village we have, and we know that without them, this journey would be impossible for us.  This post is about our village, how they help us, and how thankful and fortunate we are to have them in our life. It is important to recognize though, that the reason why many of these children are in care, is because their parents are not fortunate enough to have a village supporting them when times get tough, money is tight, or they make a mistake. But that is a more depressing topic, and will be discussed in another post. This post is about some of the people in our village who make our journey possible. The people in this post are proof that “not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child”. Continue reading “It Takes A Village”