Meeting the Kids....

Wanted to give you another update on where we are with the Foster/Adopt process. I've tried to make a distribution list so I don't forget anyone...but may have missed a few, so will catch up with you later. Forward to anyone you think I may have missed....

In any event, yesterday was our first meeting with the kids... Wanted to let you know a little bit about how it went:

First off, it's time for my weekly rant about the system: I have to tell you that based on what Mark and I have seen through this process, it's amazing if kids can come out of this process unscathed. They are shifted around from home to home, with a bunch of people they don't know. Don't know what's going on...NOTHING. I can't imagine living my little life in such flux that you don't have a sense of security, love, attention...it's really very sad.

That being said, we were scheduled to meet with the kids late yesterday afternoon. The meeting was originally supposed to be at the current foster parents home, however the day before she'd had her carpets cleaned, and apparently there was a problem with that, so it was moved to the social services building in Antioch. The plan was to meet the kids and interact with them for about an hour, and then chat with the social workers and figure out what the deal was...

Again, there were 3 social workers with us, and per usual none of them had met the kids. In addition, we had been told last week to put together a little book of our family, with pictures. The plan was for the social worker to see the kids on Friday or Monday of last week and show them the books so they would have an idea of what is going on. That never happened. Luckily, I'd printed copies of it, and had taken them with me...

We arrived about 15 minutes early and sat in the lobby of the social services building. Shortly there after, the social workers showed up...and we sat..and sat...and sat... Finally, the social worker who arranged the meeting called the current foster parent to see what was going on. The current foster parent told the social worker that she'd never called back to confirm, so she wasn't planning on bringing the kids. The social worker asked the parent if she would mind if we came over to her house (they are only about 10 minutes from the office). Parent said no. Social worker said, well, how about we bring them over, and they can meet the kids on the lawn in front of your house. Foster Parent says no. They finally agree that Foster Dad will drive the kids over to the office. 45 minutes later, the kids come with the Foster Dad...

The kids came into the building, and as you might recall, there were the 3, Angel, Jenna, and Robert. Robert just turned 2 the first part of Sept. He was very leery, and very teary eyed, to the point of almost crying. Angel is the big sister, and took Robert's hand, and guided him into the building.

We'd gotten A LOT of conflicting information about the kids, so were very curious to see how they were. Our social worker originally said that they were all okay except for Jenna who had mild CP and suffered a stroke at 6 months old. However, it was originally presented to us that the other 2 were fine, and Jenna was very functional, etc. However, during our visit with the 3 social workers last week, we read the medical reports, and it appeared that Jenna's issues were much more severe than we had been told. We were very curious to see how they truly were.

Angel the oldest, is actually in 1st grade. She was very bright, outgoing, and communicative. She had her pink High School Musical shirt on, and of course I was wearing my pink signature color, so fit right in! We chatted about that, and then met Jenna. Jenna is absolutely adorable. She's supposed to wear a leg brace which she didn't have on. One of her legs turns in slightly, but other than that, you'd really never know she had any issues aside from communication. When you talk to her, she appears to comprehend what you're saying, and did say a few words to Mark and I. Definitely better than we expected after reading last weeks report. She was even showing us how she could hop up and down! Much more than we'd expected....

Robert as mentioned before, was very teary eyed and fearful. They escorted all of us to a play room, and Robert wanted nothing to do with us. Angel had him sit next to her, and had him help her open her present. He perked up, and then we handed him his. It went uphill from there!

We'd gotten Angel a Barbie set that we'd gotten at Costco on Sunday. It had Babs, along with a BBQ set that reminded Mark and I of the BBQ island in our backyard. When she got the paper off the package, she immediately said I Love Barbie!!! We'd gotten Jenna a toy where it tells you to push an animal or a number, so that she could learn colors, animals, etc. Robert we'd gotten a See and Say. Soon they were all playing with their goodies and making lots of noise.

When we'd gone into the playroom, Mark and I chose to sit down on the floor, so we would be more at eye level with the kids as we got to know them. As I said before, we'd made a book for each child that told about our home, families, and neighborhood. Mark picked one of the books up, and Angel came over and sat on his lap and started looking at it with him. He started to read it, and pretty soon he had Jenna sitting on the other side of his lap listening to the story and looking at the pictures. When we put together the book, we decided to include some pictures of the kids in our neighborhood. They were VERY excited to see the pictures of the Jones and Simeone Families so thanks Sylvia and Kathy!!!Robert and I continued playing with the See and Say...

Our visit lasted about 15 minutes and we chit chatted with the kids. It was time to wrap everything up, and we asked the kids if they would like to come to dinner with us on Thursday and see our house. They said yes, and seemed very excited. We were packing up the toys, and Mark asked them, do you want to take these with you, or do you want us to take them home, and you can play with them when you come over to our house? Surprisingly enough, they said that they wanted us to take them, so that they could play with them when they came over.

After the visit the social workers told us that everything went very well in their opinion, and that the kids were starved for affection and attention. We decided that we are going to pick the kids up at the foster parents house tomorrow evening and take them to dinner, and show them our home. Then on Saturday, we are going to pick them up about 9am, and keep them until about 7pm. We will probably take them to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin, and then maybe costume shopping. We will probably set up another dinner next week, and then another Sat or Sun visit. Halloween with be their first overnight visit with us.

Tomorrow morning there's a visit with the Public Health Nurse for the kids, and I am going to meet them, and the foster parents at the doctors office. They are going to evaluate Robert's needs if any, and see if there are any special services he needs. Next week we have one more evaluation appt for the kids.

I called the Elementary School around the corner from us about enrollment, and they just called me back and told me what I need to enroll the kids. Then I need to get Jenna's schedule to see what the scoop is with that as she goes to a therapy/pre-school combo. This week and next, I also need to research care for Robert. Once we have all of our options, Mark and I will sit down and lay out a game plan for who does what when, so that we can adjust schedules and figure out our routine.

Wanted to give you the latest and greatest update. We were in a hurry yesterday to pack up the stuff and get in the car to meet the kids, that I forgot our camera :( However, we'll take some pictures after our visit tomorrow.

We are very excited about having the kids on Saturday. We've got some family coming over this weekend, so it will be nice to introduce them to the kids.

In any event, thank you all for your kind words, support, thoughts and prayers. We will keep you posted on our progress!