I am the record keeper of all of the meetings between mentors and the campers they meet with.
This morning I received an email from a mentor who had a camper who moved what seemed to be quite abruptly on Thursday. The girl was texting her and she was unsure what to do. M (the mentor coordinator) gave her great advice. Get in contact with the new parent and the caseworker. Try to figure out what is going on, but be there for the kiddo.
I emailed back and forth with the new mentor a number of times over the course of the day. These kiddos were in their home for FOUR YEARS, two girls and a boy. We believe it is the only foster home they have ever had. Now the girls are in a foster home and the boy is in temporary respite care until they can find a placement.
I pieced all of this together from the bits and pieces I was getting from various people in the case.
I called the boy's mentor, G, to see if he knew what was going on. He does. He is irritated at the whole thing. He has been this boy's mentor for three years. He wants him in their home PERMANENTLY, but he has been told repeatedly by the state that the kiddos CANNOT be separated, even through placement. Well, now they are.
He has been present at all of the family team meetings for the last three years and knew this was coming. The foster mom gave them ONE YEAR notice yet no one did anything until it was an emergency last Thursday...then they moved them that day. Seriously, there has to be a better way.
G and I talked a number of times this evening. He and his wife are going to pursue this boy moving in with them...immediately. They did respite for him all weekend so he could move to another respite home. They thought he was moving to a placement. They are willing to do respite until they become licensed so they can then potentially adopt. He wanted my thoughts on what should be their immediate and next steps. I gave him my thoughts on agencies and gave him some names to contact who could help him better than I.
There are parts of this story which break my heart and parts that fill my heart with joy. G is an example of someone who went to camp and then kept going where God lead. Now that boy just might have a forever family all because God sent them both to camp!
Praises for God's weaving of lives and while we don't understand the big picture...He does.
This morning I received an email from a mentor who had a camper who moved what seemed to be quite abruptly on Thursday. The girl was texting her and she was unsure what to do. M (the mentor coordinator) gave her great advice. Get in contact with the new parent and the caseworker. Try to figure out what is going on, but be there for the kiddo.
I emailed back and forth with the new mentor a number of times over the course of the day. These kiddos were in their home for FOUR YEARS, two girls and a boy. We believe it is the only foster home they have ever had. Now the girls are in a foster home and the boy is in temporary respite care until they can find a placement.
I pieced all of this together from the bits and pieces I was getting from various people in the case.
I called the boy's mentor, G, to see if he knew what was going on. He does. He is irritated at the whole thing. He has been this boy's mentor for three years. He wants him in their home PERMANENTLY, but he has been told repeatedly by the state that the kiddos CANNOT be separated, even through placement. Well, now they are.
He has been present at all of the family team meetings for the last three years and knew this was coming. The foster mom gave them ONE YEAR notice yet no one did anything until it was an emergency last Thursday...then they moved them that day. Seriously, there has to be a better way.
G and I talked a number of times this evening. He and his wife are going to pursue this boy moving in with them...immediately. They did respite for him all weekend so he could move to another respite home. They thought he was moving to a placement. They are willing to do respite until they become licensed so they can then potentially adopt. He wanted my thoughts on what should be their immediate and next steps. I gave him my thoughts on agencies and gave him some names to contact who could help him better than I.
There are parts of this story which break my heart and parts that fill my heart with joy. G is an example of someone who went to camp and then kept going where God lead. Now that boy just might have a forever family all because God sent them both to camp!
Praises for God's weaving of lives and while we don't understand the big picture...He does.
Posts
Post a Comment