Friday, February 8, 2013

What is Wrong with this Picture?

This is my calendar for the month of February.

I have a child in foster care.

I ask you...  What is wrong with this picture?

Bug's case has been by far the easiest case I've ever had.  So easy, in fact, it's almost (dare I say...) kind of boring!  He's a perfectly healthy baby and developmentally right on track, so no therapies or extra medical appointments.  His parents are nowhere to be found, so no weekly parent visitations.  His case is currently based out of a county an hour away, so visits from his caseworker are few and far between.  Nice Lady (from my agency) still comes out once a month, but after two years of knowing her, her visits are more like a good friend coming over to gab than a foster care "chore."  I was (almost) excited when his caseworker sprung a last-minute visit with his grandmother on me earlier this week.  I got to add something to my calendar!

For the most part, things have just been quiet, and it is a seriously foreign thing to me to be parenting without a ton of CPS interference.  I've never really parented without CPS breathing down my neck and having to jump through a ton of hoops and cut through red tape.  I sort of don't know how to parent without all of the crazy!  In fact, I'm missing the crazy so much that I've seriously considered taking another kiddo!  I said as much on FB (begging one of my foster mama BFFs to talk me down), and the ensuing conversation was pretty humorous.  You could easily pinpoint which of the respondents were foster parents and which were friends and family thinking that I've lost my mind.  :-)
"Sara!  You need to TALK ME DOWN!  Just when I thought I was perfectly fine having only boys, I ran into TWO super-cute baby girls (separately) who I wanted to snatch up and one very pregnant teen carhop who announced she was having a girl all in the matter of about 20 minutes.  Now I'm wanting to call my agency and tell them that I'll take on a 3rd infant/toddler if they can get me a girl and maybe even a teen mom!  (and OF COURSE I'm leaving this to YOU to talk me down because I know you're going to tell me to GO FOR IT! ;-)"
Responses ranged from "You do that and you will lose your respite provider!!!" to "Nana will change her mind the moment she lays eyes on another little one." to "Everyone should have have one of each!" to "STEP AWAY FROM THE BABY!  We're going to have to find you a 12 step program!"  Sara, however, turned on me and sided with my mom (suck up! ;-) saying, "Nana gets to decide!"  (Although I have to admit, my mom slowed me down a bit by saying that she'd boycott all respite duties if I added a 3rd. :-)  Still...  A 5-year-old girl sure sounds like fun!  Maybe I can convince her...  :-)

In the meantime, I'm going to have to find something foster care-related to keep me busy.  I'm going to focus hard on the blog and probably volunteer to do some paperwork or a foster parent newsletter for my agency.  I'll probably take them up on their request to teach a documentation and organization class too.  Heck!  Maybe I'll write a book!  If I can't get myself another kiddo right now, I need to keep myself busy in all of my "free" time.  Bug goes to bed at 6:30 and sleeps all night, and Monkey is only with me half of the week.  I need to find something productive to do!

Any ideas?  I've got to fill my empty calendar!

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