The waiting has ceased for the moment! We have gotten our second placement of two 2 year olds! "Tarzan" is a boy and he is almost three. "Sweety" is his sister and is just over two. This was also an emergency placement but this time it happened much faster. It was only an hour and a half from the time of the call to the moment they came through the door.
Writing about this placement makes me very sad. These poor kids have five other siblings and have been severely abused. Unfortunately after about three hours with Tarzan and Sweety we realized that we were not experienced enough to keep them. During those three hours I had been bitten and hit. Our table had been climbed on and Tarzan had locked himself in a bedroom multiple times and hung from our chandelier. I was so ashamed to have to call the caseworker and tell her that I couldn't handle it. But I knew it would be in their best interest to go now than to get attached and have to move in a couple of days or weeks. For a few days after they left I was honestly depressed and so discouraged. In training they warn you about behavioral issues and prep you for hard kids. So now I am thinking maybe I am not meant to be a foster parent? Are all of the kids going to be this difficult?
As a foster parent you have to do 20 hours of training per year to keep your license. Well Hope and Home offers their foster parents monthly support group which will fulfill those hours! Another amazing perk to being a Hope and Home family! A couple of weeks after Tarzan and Sweety left we had our support group. I have to say I was so encouraged. We hadn't received a call for a placement since they had left and we felt as though we had been blacklisted. I honestly thought that because we didn't keep them that DHS didn't want to place any kids with us. I expressed these feelings at our support group and was so encouraged that we did the right thing. Our leader, who is an amazing foster mom, said that in foster care you need to have limits and it does no one any good to go outside them. I felt so supported and reassured that we did the right thing.
Later we did find out that Tarzan had many behavioral and developmental delays which were not disclosed when we had received the call. I am happy to report that they are now with a highly experienced foster family who has had many difficult toddlers.
So now we wait SOME MORE!!!
