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Looking for any commiseration or advice on an issue if anyone else has been through something similar:
I'm a high school teacher and working on fostering one of my students. We were set to have her move in soon, but she got into a fight with her current foster mom, and current foster mom called the cops on her. The cops arrive, and were initially just going to sit the kid in the back of the patrol car and let her calm down. Well, kid must've been extremely emotionally strung out because she fought the cop and that landed her in jail. She called me from jail (I didn't realize it was her at first). Anyway, the caseworker and I talked and she said she'd understand if I wanted to reconsider taking her in, but I dunno. I'm not ready to give up on this kid before she even had a chance to move in with me, but I also don't want to be naive about the challenges. I'm single and 31. I have family and friends in the immediate area for support, but, again, I don't want to underestimate the challenges of being a single foster mom dealing with a kid who obviously needs a LOT of love. WANTING to care for a kid and being the person best equipped to care for them are two very different things.
Many thanks in advance for any advice or commiseration :)
As someone who is seriously considering having the SW look for a new placement for a foster kid, I feel like I am on the other end of this situation. Being there I would suggest you have a heart to heart with them. They know more than the social worker more than the bio family more than anyone besides the kid what she is like. They’ve also been where you are looking at the case file and wondering whether they could handle it all. Of course you have the advantage that you know her a little bit. I am betting you’ve already made the decision by now but for future people in your shoes don’t forget past foster parents are a valuable resource. I just wished our foster kids foster mom had bothered to sit down more with us rather than making herself distant.
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