Today is S day and what better word than social worker? Ok so technically it's two words but social starts with s so its fine. So far we have had a total of 5 social workers. 8 kids but 5 social workers. Angel and Socialite had the same worker which was nice because she took them both to therapy until I started doing it for Angel because the therapist wanted me to tell her how that week had gone. She was a good social worker, sometimes she did things that annoyed me but I think maybe I was more annoyed with how the system worked. Sweetiepie had a really nice worker, she reminded me of a grandma. We didn't even have her for more than a month and the worker was always helpful when we called her. Brighteyes and Hulk were siblings so once again the same social worker. She was nice and was really supportive of letting us monitor visits and pretty much call the shots on visits. They had tons more visits/phone calls then your typical foster placement. Then of course Snugglebug had a worker I knew apart from DCFS (she goes to church and works with my big kids) and she was wonderful. She took him to all his dr appointments and kept me super informed. Then of course the girl's have the same worker which is super convenient. This worker is great too, she was working over 4 hours away but she is a fast emailer/calling back person. Doesn't seem to hide information from me which is honestly my favorite thing. Of course the fact that she really seems to love the girls helps.
Whenever I've had a problem or can't get a hold of any of our social workers. I've been able to call the supervisor of our office here in town. Coincidentally she also goes to church with us, must be a small town thing. She is amazing and both my husband and I love her. She cares about the kids so much and is amazing at getting us answers or explaining things to us.
I've heard a lot of horror stories about horrible social workers and I am glad I haven't had any. *Knock on wood*
Wow. How lucky are these children to have you.
ReplyDeleteBeing a social worker in this field would be so tough. I suppose like any emotional job, you develop a think skin, but it still has to weigh you down. I'm sure they appreciate the good foster parents as much as you appreciate the good social workers.
One of the novels I'm working on right now has foster kids in it. I haven't had a chance to research how our local foster care system works, but it'll be interesting to find that out. I really don't have any close friends/family who are foster parents, so I don't know much about all the technical aspects.
If you want to you could ask me questions, I don't know much about other states but I do know quite a bit about how things work in this state. I also really like the adoption.com forums. The women (mostly there are a few dads) are an amazing emotional support system and are so full of information.
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