annieology

Ask Annie goes into day two of my perfect world of foster care as asked by Socialwrkr 24/7.

Yesterday, you’ll remember I would start foster reform by kidnapping potential foster parents.

Today, I would stick all new placements in a shelter.

That’s right.  I said shelter.

My assertion is that going directly from their home to to a foster home is traumatic on all children.  The newly placed foster children.  The children in the foster family, both Born of the Bodies and Born of the Hearts.  Traumatic for the new placements because they are going from TRAUMA of being kidnapped (taken forcibly from parents) to a “loving caring home” where they are the outsider.  It’s like being the new kid at school on steroids.

I think that transitioning them through a shelter would serve many purposes.  First, most kids are familiar with institutional type settings, say for example school.  The other kids would be new to the system as well and in a recovery mode.  This would also serve as a time for workers to find the BEST placement for the kid, not just a bed that happens to be open that night.  It would also allow easy access to medical and psychological care so that the needs of the child can be properly addressed in a timely manner.  I am fortunate to have a great relationship with a pediatrician and can get any of my kids a same day appointment.  However, when it comes to psychiatric care, I’m at the whim of cancellations until my next monthly appointment.

It would also allow time for paperwork on the children to be found or processed.  Because all foster children use Medicaid a facility could process that paperwork and form relationships with the “make it happen fast” people in Medicaid.  (That phrase is why I’m the 16th funniest blogger in the World, thank you very much)

I am not proposing we stick them in a shelter and forget them,  I am saying transition them where ever they are going from the shelter.  I believe every state has a two week hearing of some sort.  All this needs to be sorted out before that hearing if they will be staying in foster care.  It would also allow for family members seeking placement to have access to the children while their home studies are being expedited.

If the kids will not be going home, or not be going to a family member they can be introduced slowly to the world of foster care.  State should pay for beds in foster homes that are not currently occupied, IF and I say it loudly IF the foster families seeking placement are volunteering their time in the shelters.

It would certainly show the commitment level of the foster families.  It would also assure that families are not just filling beds with warm bodies and cashing their checks.

It would introduce the kids to families, it would open the eyes of families to children they have deemed not a good fit for their homes, and it would not be as traumatic for other foster children in the home.

Remember, every time a new kid comes “home” the dynamics of the house change.   It re traumatizes the children who have lived through the experience and makes them question what their place is in the home.  Everyone has to puff up their feathers and quite frankly the first month of a new kid sucks.

If the families are volunteering their time in these shelters they might get a little insight into what they are getting into.  Also, if you have a fire starter there are homes for fire starters, believe it or not.  Every kid deserves to be in the best placement possible, as few placements as possible and for the shortest amount of time possible.  I think that committing to a two week transitional/best case scenario placement is not too much to ask for them.

Should the child return home or to a family member it will not disrupt placements in the foster home because Johnny felt the need to punch someone in the trachea because there is a new kid in the house.

Tune in tomorrow for more.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Fostering. 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.