annieology

Socialworker 24/7 asks

:.what is the best and worst thing about foster care? And, what your dream system look like? ”

Oh, you know I stay awake nights thinking about this question.

Best thing?  The people.  The worst.  The other people.

I have met very many lovely people who love this work and are swimming up stream to try to make it a better thing for everyone involved.

I have also met horrible people who run their agencies like a business.  And in business if you aren’t turning a profit you aren’t a good business person.

As far as a perfect system, this will probably take the better part of the week.

The first thing I would do is rock the world of any potential foster parent.  You want to be a foster parent?  Sign this waiver here and hire an attorney before you go to bed tonight.

Seriously.

Then,  I would kidnap them.  (after contacting their attorney and explaining it).  I would show up at their work, or their home and have men with guns escort them into a car.  If they had stuff with them I might not take very good care of it.  I might show up to dinner wearing their clothes.  They would not be allowed to call anyone they know.  They would be fed really weird food.  They would be rooming with one of my more rambunctious children.   They would have to worry if their family knew where they were.  If they were going to have a job when they returned, if someone was feeding their dog.

Because foster parents just don’t get it a lot of the time.  I see it every year that I go through the required classes.   Someone who thinks they are doing the kids a favor.   Someone who thinks that a warm and loving home is their gift to the world.

And it may be.

Eventually.

But not tonight.

No, tonight I am scared.  Worried.  Tired.  I would really prefer if you just left me the hell alone because I want to cry.

And I need you to understand that.

After that boot camp type training I would send them home.  All of their belongings thrown into trash bags.  Even if they had brought a bag with them.  Things get lost you know.

And that would be the first thing I would change.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 9:28 am and is filed under Fostering, annieology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.