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Hello all,
We are licensed to foster, with hopes to adopt. 0-5, either sex. It has been 4 months since licensing and we have not had a single call, not even a respite! Our CW visited last week for her quarterly update and had the courtesy to look surprised. But I have not heard back from her.
I also asked for a copy of our homestudy to confirm its accuracy. They've been hedging on that for a couple of weeks now.
We are feeling unnecessary, if not unwelcome, in our county. I also worry we have wasted 14 months getting this far. Something feels very off.
What would you do at this point? Write an email to the Powers That Be? Switch to an agency? TIA!
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Sorry this is happening to you. You likely won't get a copy of your home study. Most of the time an agency won't let you have a copy because it was very expensive and they don't want you taking it to a new agency. When we were in our licensing process the person who wrote the HS came over and we were allowed to read it over before she submitted it. Maybe call your worker and tell her you would like make an appointment to come to the office and read it. That way she does not have to dig it out and drag it over to your house...it may make it easier.Also, call her supervisor if you're not getting anywhere with her. We were told in a training recently that calling a supervisor is not a bad thing, that SWs get busy and their supervisors are there to back them up and we shouldn't feel bad about calling them.
I'd start with the caseworker, ask why there haven't been referrals. If you don't get a satisfactory answer, move up the chain.
I'm almost 3 months back on the waiting list myself. I happen to be friends with the placement worker (looks like we'll be on the FAPA board together ). So, I was able to ask and find out why.
Good luck!
I'm a big fan of working with an agency, it makes me feel like I have a worker on my side rather than just on the state/county's side. You could also try touching base (a quick phone call or email) weekly to remind the CW that you are available and waiting. We only waited about a month after getting our license and the the week that we got our first call was the same week that I'd called to remind our agency worker that we were open and waiting.
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MizT
Thanks guys! We are working directly with the county, so there should not be a fear about us taking our home study. We were also advised to do the 'schmooze' with our county people so they get to know us. Stay tuned!
I don't know what state you're in, but in IN, anyone licensed through agencies are less likely to get a call. We were told that DCS would even place out-of-county to avoid placing a child with an agency foster family. So we switched back to the county and within a week or two, we had 4 kids placed with us!
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Wow, that's odd. We are with the county but have been considering an agency because our county is moving so slow. Called one yesterday to find that we would need to do additional classes, interviews, etc to be REapproved. Plus, this group does not work with 0-5 yr olds, our preferred ages. Yeesh. You wouldn't think this would be so hard!
StephanieMB
I don't know what state you're in, but in IN, anyone licensed through agencies are less likely to get a call. We were told that DCS would even place out-of-county to avoid placing a child with an agency foster family. So we switched back to the county and within a week or two, we had 4 kids placed with us!
We were told in our PRIDE class that our county collective (rural counties together) have a "open bed" list that you can put yourself on. We were told to put ourselves on the list even right after we get liscensed because no one else is going to do it for us. Maybe there is something liek that in your state?
Sorry. I know that it's so hard to wait, especially after all the build up of the application process.
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In central IN, there is such a push on placing children with family that we waited a long time for our current placement and basically went out and found him. He is a relative. We are back on the list here and it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get a placement. I'm going to check in once a month to make sure we're still on the list. It will probably be a while.
A friend of mine told me to keep calling. She said they usually have their list of 'favories' that they call first and if they keep seeing your name - they will get to know you and will start calling. After all - you are also helping them out by providing your home - its not like you are just asking for something for yourself.
Also, attend any training or meetings/gatherings that you can with other foster families. I'm not sure what state you are in, but in NJ we have monthly FAFS meetings and a few get togethers a year and its nice to 'network' with other families. Sometimes they get the call and can't take a child and they can refer you.