First of all, thank you to everyone who has reached out to me through my blog, Facebook or Instagram with your words of support! I really appreciate the kinds words and perspectives that were given.
This week has sent me on a different emotion! I went from anxious, to excited, to disappointed… in a matter of 1.5 hours. On Monday, I received a call from DSS at 1:08 pm. Of course I recognized the number and answered… heart beating fast (of course). My social worker exchanged nice pleasantries with me… so at this point I am thinking it is a social call, but also thinking… “why sway?” She quickly changes gears and lets me know that she has a placement for me. Young siblings one and two years old. My mind went NUMB! What??!! TWO Babies? I listened while she gave me the reason the children were coming into care and their health report. So now it was my turn to speak, these children fall within the age range that I desire and they seem to be healthy (from what my social worker could tell me)… so what am I going to say??? My mind started thinking of having two young kids in the house, I only have one crib… I only have one car seat… there may be a language barrier. BUT I will do it! I just had to ask my caseworker one tiny question. Me: “You said there are two children coming into care, can I take two kids… I am only licensed for one?” Caseworker: “Let me look at your license…. oh yeah, darn! Okay, false alarm. BUT I will be calling you soon.” Me: “okay, thank you.” Insert small tear of disappointment.
Called my mama, my cousin, and my good friend to tell them what was up and how I almost had a placement. While I was on the phone with my friend, I get another call from DSS, this was about 1:25 pm. “I have a placement for you!” My caseworker again starts telling me about this particular placement. This time a four year old! Okay, within my desired age group… and here comes the magic question, “Will you accept the placement?” Yes!! I accepted the placement as was told that someone from the department would be calling me to schedule a drop off time. So, I know not to get too worked up and start buying things, but I did make sure I knew how to remove the crib rail from the bed (to turn it into a toddler bed.) **side note: I was really impressed with myself that I could do this without help or even calling someone to walk me through it! Yay me!** Called my mom and let her know that YES!!! I will be receiving a four year old that evening. Well, that excitement was short lived! At 1:40 pm I got another call from DSS, apparently they were able to contact the child’s grandmother to place her with family. I was happy that she was able to remain with family, but couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. I am glad I read in another foster blog to NOT get too excited about placements. This blogger stated that placements actually come to your home less than 50% of the time (because they find family members to place the child with), so I accepted the placement with a perspective of “I’ll talk about it when I see it happen.” I was glad for that nugget of wisdom, it helped to keep me from posting on social media or writing a quick blog about it… LOL!
On another note, I attended the PG County DSS Foster Parent Conference on Saturday, I met a lot of other foster parents, two who I used to be co-workers with, and expand my support system. I also got to see a lot of children in care… and that they are not all scary monsters (like tv makes you believe). I also got to see that there is a possibility for the care of younger children as the children at the conference were between 2-12 years old.
So, back to waiting for now. I’m not complaining or even in a rush. I know God will put me in the path of the right child… at the right time.
A Journey Through Foster Parenting 