The Mystery of the Invisible CPS Caseworker

I've had Chunky Monkey nearly three weeks now, and despite both of us still fighting upper respiratory infections for the past week, we're getting a good routine down.  His choking during feeds is slowly getting under control, and for the most part, his choking is congestion-related.  He still has trouble with the reflux, but it's manageable now.  So three weeks, and we're starting to develop a new "normal."

And as of yesterday afternoon, it was also three whole weeks without any kind of contact from Monkey's CPS caseworker.  Seriously.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Zip.  Zilch.

I finally learned her name about a week and a half into the placement because the nighttime intake worker who had orginally been on Monkey's case emailed my agency to let them know who his worker would be after "Nice Lady" started hounding people for me.  :-)  Once I knew her name, I automatically knew her email address (love the standardization of our state government email addresses :-), so I immediately sent her an email just to "introduce myself." 

Okay, so that is a total load of bull, but that was how I began the message.  "Hi...  Just wanted to introduce myself..."  Blah-blah-blah...  I actually emailed her because I:  1) wanted to remind her that "Hey!  There's an infant here who's supposed to be your responsibility and you seem to have forgotten that he's here!"  and 2) needed to make sure that she was doing her job as far as setting up his CCMS, getting answers on the status of his case, etc. 

Fast forward another week, and still no response from the Invisible Caseworker (Nice pic, huh?  It was the only "invisible girl" pic I could find.  I am going to hope that Monkey's caseworker doesn't dress like this to work).  I emailed again after I heard from Monkey's attorney following the evidenciary hearing just to verify with his caseworker what had happened.  And again.  Nothing.  I realize I shouldn't be surprised, but come on!  "Nice Lady" and Monkey's attorney both ended up having to contact her supervisor before she ever bothered to call them back.  I really don't want to go all Bipolar Girl on her this early in the case, but I will call her boss too if I have to!

That brings us to yesterday afternoon.  My phone rang, and I recognized the prefix for my county's CPS office, so I knew it was her.  THE INVISIBLE CPS CASEWORKER HAD FINALLY SURFACED!!!  "So what did you do, Tammy," you might ask? 

Not a thing.  I let it go to voicemail.  Two can play at this game!  ;-)

She did end up responding to my emails after leaving me a happy little voice message about "just wanting to chat" about the baby like she didn't have a care in the world.  She sounded perky.  Perky people kind of irritate me, so this might not bode well for us if she truly is as "valley girl" as she sounds.  I guess we'll see.  I didn't bother to respond to her until this morning.  Granted, it was only a 12 hour delay, but it made me feel better.  I sure showed her!  ;-)