Eleven weeks and five days -- let's just say 12 weeks, ok?  

Twelve weeks, and we *finally* have an ok from the FBI and state BI saying that we are not criminals!  WooHoo!  I honestly was thinking this past week that it may never happen, that something unknown was in our path and we would never be certified.  I started to give up on hopes and dreams, both for us and for the children in our path.  The process is now rolling again, and God's timing is evident.  

Our report was sent to DHS and will be read and reviewed either tomorrow or next Thursday.  We have been assigned a home supervisor and need to meet with her to be sure there are no mistakes in our written report, sign education agreement plans saying we will have a minimum of 20 hours of foster care related education in the next year, and sign contracts.

After that, we carry a phone non-stop and wait for a call asking us to invite a child to our home to be cared for until a judge decides the location they will call home.  Here's to doing our best! 

We'll keep you posted!

This weekend, we participated in the Launch classes (12 hours).  This is typically the introduction prior to starting the content classes for foster parent training.  We initially met with the agency the day prior to the last launch, so had to wait for this one.   They allowed us to go ahead and attend the other classes, so we didn't have to wait until now to begin, and I am very glad.  I wish I would have had the energy to type a post right after the trainings.  At this point, I don't recall many of the specifics I would have liked to share, but will get them to share at some point.  The bottom line is this ... we are entering into missional foster care.  Our mission field is our own home.  Does this mean our goal is for religious conversions.  No.  Our goal is to love children and families because they are created by and in the image of our Lord.  We are not doing this for money (you'd have to have many, many kids and spend almost nothing on them to make money).  We are not doing this for status.  We are becoming a foster family because children and families need to be loved and this is what our Lord has for us to do.  This is our path to helping those in our community, and, as a result, helping our community itself.

Sometime, I'd love to share about the horrible history of foster care in America, and the beautiful picture of what it can be when people with a heart for the children and families come together to do this right.

Overwhelmed.

Grateful.

In Awe.

Blessed.

Wow!  What a month it has been.  We not only made it through, but enjoyed, eight nights of class, three hours each.  In addition to the paperwork previously listed, there were five more packets of Q&A, several additional forms, state rules and regs to read word-for-word, and more.  We have one more class - a Friday evening / all day Saturday class.  We will also begin our family interviews and home study this month.  If all goes well, we will be licensed as a family foster care home by early or mid October.

There is so much to share from our wonderful classes, but it may need to sink in a while longer.  If you've been to a professional continuing education course or a retreat of some sort, you know the feeling - so many amazing things to share with everyone at home, but you somehow don't even know where to start.  It will come in pieces, I'm sure.

One of the beautiful things about the classes is that our own children were able to attend with us, and spend the hours with other children and great staff playing and building their own friendships.  They are now very at home in our agency's building and really enjoy being there.  In our state, there is privatization of foster care, meaning that the state contracts not just directly with individuals, but with private agencies, who then contract with the foster families.  The wonderful thing about this is that our agency also employs our home supervisors, and provides significant support to the foster families in the form of training, support groups, family activities, and more.  This makes for better families and better homes for the kids.  Our agency also has a factory that makes it's own currency and items which can be purchased with this currency.  The names, the store, and everything about it are wacky and fun.  Kids earn this currency when in the building for any activities, for helping out in a myriad of ways, or through incentive programs.  They can then purchase items at the store.  The original kids of foster families are also included, which is fabulous.  These children may or may not be as excited as their parents to welcome new children to their home, give up half of their room or closet, or deal with the anxiety of the unknown.  A little prize always increases the fun factor.

This weekend, we'll be preparing our home for the home study - a bit more cleaning and organizing (although I know it won't be completely done ... does anyone else's spice cabinet, refrigerator, or coat closet just explode into complete disorder on a regular basis?  Second law of thermodynamics, anyone?) Among other things, Hubby will be adding the infamous child safety locks to all kitchen and bath cabinetry, while I'll be working on making the grandparent guest bed *not* look like it's four feet off the ground after we added risers underneath in efforts to find more storage space. (Suggestions?) The goal is to be at least comfortable with where things are (figuratively and literally) by the end of the weekend.  I'll have to make a list of everything we did to prepare the home once we're done.  (I like lists.  Did you notice?)  Have  a fabulous Labor Day weekend, and don't forget to show thanks for the opportunity to labor for our families and for the kingdom.

Our first training session was last night and I am exhausted.  It was a great class, but I have this problem.  After evening meetings, my brain is just turned ON.  I cannot get to sleep, even if I feel tired.  I want to discuss; hash it over, share the great points and the frustrations (if any).  I'm sure this drives my husband nuts when I come home from a meeting and he's ready to fall asleep.  At least this time, he was with me, so I have less to report.  In the end, I was up until 3am.  I'm trying to tell myself it's preparation for nights with children who don't sleep the night (which we did for 7.5 years straight, but not often the last two years), however, the cold turkey version of no sleep has left me flat out exhausted.  I really hope I'll be able to sleep after training tomorrow, or I'm in trouble.  I'm also very bad at naps - just can't fall asleep in the day.  The one to two times yearly I can nap, it ends up being a four hour slumber - also not convenient.  Just realized I'm writing about what's convenient for me. Hmm, definitely need sleep to function well, but possibly not looking at this the right way?  A little selfish perhaps?  Got it, God.  Point taken.  I'll push through and respectfully request some great sleep for tonight.

The great news from last night is that the training was really good.  Tuesday is parenting training and Thursday is legal/paperwork/etc.  I'll share more about the parenting training after we get through more, but it's fabulous.  The instructor (who is the developer of the program we'll use and agency CEO), is able to so clearly explain the generalized parenting needs of children who are removed from their original families or experience difficulties.  He put some principles into succinct statements - things I've been trying to express for some time - and I'm so glad to have these.  I really enjoy and am motivated by looking at how kids learn and how fear, frustration, and other emotions aren't expressed by children the way that adults express these emotions (and too often expect kids to do the same).  I'm excited for more and excited to have a place where I don't have to explain that "traditional" parenting book principles just don't work or aren't appropriate for our kids.

We'll receive a "little" more paperwork each Tuesday and are to have as much of it back on Thursday as possible.  FBI background checks can take 3-5 months and this really holds up licensing.  In addition to a full, 3" binder and a 195 page book that will need to be read this month, here's yesterday's additions to the "To Do" list ...

Tuesday 07 August 2012

Online Courses