Brian's in the shower, and I have just a few minutes to blog. We're out on Lummi Island for the weekend with my extended family, but Brian brought me back to town for a surprise related to my birthday. I'm fairly certain I know what it is (I'm very hard to surprise), but it will be fun just the same. The children are still on this island, being supervised by my mom. (We expect they'll play lots of Gameboy and get extra dessert.) :)
We got a call last night from our case worker (at quarter to 11), updating us on Thursday's meeting. As it turns out, the meeting was less about us and more about policy. The particular office that T & H's case is managed at does not allow the reading of a child's records before they are legally free (when the birthparent's rights have been relinquished or terminated.) That is supposed to be in process for these children, but it's not done. Which means we have to make a decision about whether to adopt these children with out having the full story and knowing all there is to know about their background. We aren't going to take them in and then send them away if we find something we don't like when it comes time to read the records... so how do we find out what we need to know?
Our case worker decided we (and she) need to have a meeting with T & H's aunt and uncle (tricky, since they live on the other side of the state) to ask them the tough questions, since they would know a lot of the answers about what brought the children into foster care in the first place. So she's supposed to be setting that up, assuming they are willing and able. She's hoping for as early as next weekend. We're hoping it's that early, too. Once that's all done, assuming there are no big red flags, we can THEN get on to talking about transitions. And that's the exciting part.
OK, we are off to the birthday event, then back to the island this evening. Have a great weekend!!!
Ugg! I know how hard this is for all of you. Even has the foster parents of our two adopted kiddos it was hard to find out the history. I hope you get the answers you need.
Blessings,
Dawn
Posted by: Dawn | 05/26/2009 at 11:26 AM