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OK, I try and try to get ahold of the CPS worker in charge of the my children's case but she never returns my calls. I do not think that I am being pesty. I only leave one message a week, for the last 3 weeks. My almost 4 yo fs is telling us stuff about things that he has seen regarding his bio and men and stories of being left all alone and her locking him outside, etc, etc. I feel that the worker needs to know these things. I am journaling them all of course. This is our first placement and I guess that I am a bit niave about how the system works. Bio is working the plan right now, even though she has lost 8 other children in another state they are talking her up like she is the queen mother. I don't get it. I guess my question is, do they (CPS & court) take things that children say into account before they return children to the bios? My fs is way to "educated" about things at his young age and I am worried about this poor guy, as well as his 1 year old brother and sister. Wow, the life of a foster parent is certainly - uncertain. You go from court date to court date, from story to story, from worry to worry. Sorry to ramble but I'm curious to hear from you veterans out there. Thanks.
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I would send the cw an email. CC the cw supervisor & GAl with the information you have learned from the child. If you can do do a read receipt so you know if they have opened your email . Also provide any additional information such as updates on DR appoints, how the child is doing in daycare...... Your cw isn't doing her job she isn't responding to you. I would also mention that you have left messages for the last three weeks. Trust me if the cw sees tht you have copied the others on the email she will call you or respond to your email.
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I agree with pp. However, if you don't know thier e-mail yet....ask to speak with the supervisor...let her/him know you have left messages and that your cw might be on vacation and you don't know what to do. Everytime I did this I got a call back from both supervisor and cw within 2 hours.I happen to like using e-mail...tell the cw (when you talk to her - that since it is summer the best way to get ahold of you is thru e-mail and leave your e-mail address...that way there you have hers!)Good luck!
I am certainly no Vetern, But If you do not have her email, their name with the following example should work: XXXX.abcdefg@dcs.IN.gov XXXX being their 1st name dot abcedfg being their last. Email has worked best for us to communicate, mine doesn't do well returning phone calls either. You can ask for a mental health evaluation if you feel like he needs counseling, now for me that process is taking 3 weeks and counting and that was after I finally got the CW to set up the evaluation. We used an agency called "Adult and Child" for the evaluation. After your CW gets their write up she then refers you to counselor. We are using one very close to home(west/nw side of Indy)
I agree that if cw is not responding to you that you should contact the supervisor. I think it is great that you are documenting everything! If you want to get the email address before you contact the supervisor, you can call the main line for the cw's office and they will give it to you. I got the cw's email address when she wasn't returning my calls and communication has been much better through email.
Definitely contact the supervisor. Explain to her that you are a first time foster parent and that you are trying to do things the right way, but that you have some concerns. I had to do this with our first placement, and trust me, the supervisor was returning my call within an hour, and the cw returned every single one of my calls after that.
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With my first placements I didnt want to rock the boat and I didnt want to be labeled at the DFCS office as one of "those" fps not to work with. so i had kept a few issues to myself about the cw and how she wasnt doing her job. Well finally it got to be too much and I blew up. She never returned my calls, hadnt been calling me in a while, trying to talk to me through our wrap around person so I couldnt ask her any questions. So finally I called her supervisor and her supervisor's supervisor and the lady basically asked me why I waiting over 4 months to call her on the first incident I should have called her. She said.. didnt they tell you at your IMPACT class same as MAPS that you should go up to the supervisor if you dont think your caseworker is responding in the right amount of time or if you have a problem that isnt getting resolved. I said yes but I didnt want to be a bother. She said next time call her immediately and not wait if there is a problem. If the supervisor doesnt know that the CW is not responding how can things be changed or corrected.I agree and now my CW knows that I have gone to the supervisor and it's much better. AJ
Thanks for the responses. All great comments.I guess that my biggest fear about contacting the supervisor is that I do not want to get labeled as a needy, whiny foster parent. I definitely want more placements.But my concern is them being returned before anyone finds out about it.I'll try the email approach.Thanks all.