My Wild Ride (The Conclusion)

After getting the call about Little Miss and Itty Bitty coming back into care, it occurred to me that I never finished telling the story of those few days that both girls were with me and their return to their father's care.  (View Part One, Part Two, and Part Three to catch up.)

Monday morning rolled around and I still hadn't heard a word from the girls' caseworker regarding if/when they were actually having a court hearing.  It wasn't that big of a surprise.  I had only spoken to that caseworker one time since Little Miss was placed with me, and that was on the day that Itty Bitty was released from the hospital.  To say that I was less than impressed would be an understatement.  I've had overworked, over-stressed, over-extended workers before, and I totally understand that.  This woman, however, was all of that plus over the job in general.  It was clear she didn't want to be there and didn't care about the kids.  I tried to "kill her with kindness," but that just seemed to irritate her even more.  I ended up just letting her go on her merry way and avoided contacting her unless it was absolutely necessary.

Because I had no idea if/when court was actually happening, I decided to go about my day as usual but with the assumption that the girls would be heading home at some point.  I packed up some of the girls' things, hung out with Little Miss for a while, and then took her to daycare as usual before heading to the Angel Couple's house to pick up Itty Bitty from respite.

I couldn't believe my eyes (and ears) when I walked into the home of the Angel Couple.  Itty Bitty was wasn't screaming!  I quickly learned that Angel Couple was actually a 5-person Angel Family, and Bitty had been held, rocked, played with, and spoiled rotten by the couple and their three awesome kids all weekend.  We decided then and there that if the girls didn't go back to their father that day, we were going to push like crazy to have Itty Bitty moved to the Angel Family's home and do sibling visits with the girls.  Bitty was content, Little Miss was happy with me, and we were willing to do whatever we had to to keep it that way.

I spent the next two hours trying to reach the caseworker (aka. "The Bitter & Angry One").  She finally sent me a text message (a text message!) saying, "Girls going to dad.  Get their things.  Be there in an hour."  I high-tailed it over to daycare to get Little Miss, called my mom to come over to cater to Bitty, and Miss and I finished packing and played.

When The Bitter & Angry One showed up at the door, it was abundantly clear that she wasn't happy about being there.  In the ten minutes the woman was in our presence, she complained about:

• The distance of the drive
• How tired she was
• How her legs hurt
• The amount of things that I was sending home with the girls 
• The fact that Bitty was fussy
• and everything else you can think of...

Yes, the girls had a lot of stuff.  They were two infants!  They had complete wardrobes, diapers, formula, bottles, toys, food, etc.  I'm sorry your legs hurt and you are tired.  But to come into my home, not even glance at the girls whose lives are being uprooted and turned upside down yet again, and immediately start complaining about your life...  My mom and I were so disgusted with her that we just sat there with the babies while we watched her load all of the girls' things.  :-)

After The Bitter & Angry One loaded the car, she walked back into the apartment and grumbled, "Bring the babies."  (Kind of like you would tell your kid to take out the trash or to let the dog out...)  She stood outside the car with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes, and giving us dirty looks while we said goodbye to Little Miss and Itty Bitty and loaded them into the car.  She never once spoke to either of the girls.  I gave the girls one last kiss and that woman tore out of there without ever looking back.  She had a long drive ahead of her.  A fact of which she made us perfectly aware.

And all I could do was pray that the girls would be okay...