tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11752939.post-3935189105366302482007-01-10T14:46:00.000-05:002007-01-10T15:04:46.544-05:00I was sitting in my first CEU meeting to keep my foster parent certification. Today's speaker covered identifying drug or alcohol exposed infants and basic therapies which any home provider could perform. Great subject. Terrific speaker. Nice group of people.<br /><br />Everything was going so well until one innocent foster father - who obviously leaves 90% of the work up to his wife - and who was maybe 80 years old if he was a day - asked a question about why foster parents don't require Georgia DFACS to uphold the foster parent bill of rights. In particular he was concerned that DFACS wasn't telling foster or adoptive parents when their child or children were "testing" as drug or alcohol-exposed. Why was DFACS telling people the children were simply "delayed" and that the kids "would thrive in their home?"<br /><br />This poor man got an earful and so did sweet innocent me.<br /><br />The seasoned guard reported that anyone who made demands or who pointed out failures with the system would be summarily investigated and possibly charged with some baseless crime. Their foster or not yet finalized adoptive children would be removed. They would be barred from continuing the process. Their name would be dragged through the mud from the police department, to the schools, to the hospitals, to basically anyone who would listen. The leader of the class said that she had "seen some awful things done to foster parents who advocated for their children." She also warned us not to complain to anyone about anything unless we did it through a large group or organization. In the past lobbying as a large group or as part of a non-profit's campaign had proven successful and shielded foster parents from harassment.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Holy shit!</span></strong> <br /><br />This is exactly what I thought.<br /><br />These people have been doing this for years and run a highly regarded foster support group! If they say that it is this bad, then what are we getting into? <br /><br />I probably turned white as a sheet. I know I must have because the leader quicklt retracted to say that "there are some good case workers out there but you never know if your's is one of them." Again. Not something I wanted to hear. Not after the experience we have had to date.<br /><br />She went on to say how badly the State covers up medical or development delays; and that as adoptive parents, we must be assertive in getting all the documents before we commit to a child. Well we would definitely get that...I am pretty well versed on the "hide the public record fast" game. <br /><br />But still I don't want to foster a kid and then wind up in court because I stood up to a civil servant Nazi who is now pressing some trumped-up charge against me.<br /><br />I tried to call WaWa and get his feedback. It was pretty scary. These aren't the grousers and the complainers and the quacks that you see on the Internet or read about in the paper. These people aren't drug users, abusers, or nutcases. They don't need your messed up kid to make themselves feel better nor are they collectors of children. They don't need to "steal" your neglected and abused baby to satisfy some biological urge to parent. Of the group, I was the only one without a biological child.<br /><br />Given the group, I take their expressions of fear and worry as something to really consider.Trixienoreply@blogger.com6