Tis the season. I have spent alot of time thinking about what I am thankful for. If I would have had to write this blog the day before Thanksgiving. Not much I was way too annoyed on several different levels. Not enough sleep, work, shop, cook.
I get this way every year around the holidays and it gets worse the closer it gets to Christmas. The same old spill you get from us scrooge type personalities. For me I think I have lost that magic of the holidays. No matter how dysfunctional of a family we were growing up it was there. It is hard for me to explain it. But it felt like the holidays.
I have three children and I have really tried very hard every year. I wonder if they ever had that feeling that it is magic. You can ask anyone in my family I am a total basket case. The previous two Thanksgivings were very good though. We traveled to be with family.
So now we are here in this holdiay season. The night before Thanksgiving I had to work till midnight. When I got off I went and shopped nothing like last minute. So I get home and put things away. I make the pie and jello cups the night before so they are nice and set up for the next day. My oldest son instead of playing his game decided to help me. It was great. We had a good time and made me feel like he is taking an interest in the way we celebrate.
So after a few hours sleep I am back in the kitchen. All the children drift in and out of the kitchen while I am cooking. Each sampling something different or wanting to know how soon we will be eating. It was very relaxed. I contribute the atmosphere to not having the ex over as I have felt compelled to do in previous years. I agreed to supervise my sister's visit with her children so she could be with them. It was the eight of us.
So in that moment when we all sat at the table everyone talking and eating. I am thankful that we have each other.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Government......Conspiracy......Insanity......
I am at a total loss at this point. I have not had time blog lately and I am going to tell you what has kept me from it. Refresher for those who have never read my blog and reminder for those who do.
Due to a family situation I am the foster mother to my niece and nephews. Believe me I would move heaven earth for them or any child in need. This is not the first time I have had them. Though as time goes on it is very apparent to me that the several things fell through the cracks or the case is just been mishandled and somebody is trying to cover their mistakes.
I have had these three children since the middle of August. I have been made to jump through hoops like you wouldn't believe. If they made being a parent as difficult maybe there would be less abuse and neglect.
The youngest is in a daycare for children with behavior issues. The older two have therapy once a week. One is in the home and the other goes to a therapist . They have visit on Saturdays with mom and the father of the boys. My niece has visit one day during the week with her father. Two days a week there are assistance to the therapists in the home for two hours a visit. Mind you it is not the same two
days either.
In addition to this I have the caseworker come and walk through my house to make sure it is suitable for them to live in. Mind you they were living in a two bedroom apartment with all three children in the same bedroom. The apartment was unkempt that is putting it kindly. I had to have a home study done and that person had to tour my house and then give a recommendation if I was fit to keep them. Remember I had them previously from December of 2005 until August of 2006. Then we had to get finger printed by the state patrol everyone over the age of 18 that lives in the home. Last but not least so the State can get its fair share of the grant monies they have come out to the home to license us a family placement foster care home.
In addition to all of this I take them to doctor appointments, dentist appointments and attend parent teacher meetings and deal with any other contact regarding the children. Also include are monthly visits from the case worker, monthly IEP's for the youngest one and host (and I use that term loosely) a monthly team meeting for my sister, the caseworker, family support worker and family advocate.
I am the one with the children and she is the one with the cheering section to help get down the right path. The icing on the cake with all this, the state has me jumping through all these hoops telling me until this is done and that is done I cannot be paid for care of the children.
So now that I have dotted all my i's and crossed all my t's I call the state today. I ask if system updated to recieve a check for November. Keep in mind that I have had the children since August. The response is no, I am sorry our system does not recognize that there should be a retro check cut. The irony in this is if you owe the government money they sure know how to flag you to get their money.
Insane I know. The government really needs to take a look at how they treat the ones that are trying to help fix what someone else has broken.
Due to a family situation I am the foster mother to my niece and nephews. Believe me I would move heaven earth for them or any child in need. This is not the first time I have had them. Though as time goes on it is very apparent to me that the several things fell through the cracks or the case is just been mishandled and somebody is trying to cover their mistakes.
I have had these three children since the middle of August. I have been made to jump through hoops like you wouldn't believe. If they made being a parent as difficult maybe there would be less abuse and neglect.
The youngest is in a daycare for children with behavior issues. The older two have therapy once a week. One is in the home and the other goes to a therapist . They have visit on Saturdays with mom and the father of the boys. My niece has visit one day during the week with her father. Two days a week there are assistance to the therapists in the home for two hours a visit. Mind you it is not the same two
days either.
In addition to this I have the caseworker come and walk through my house to make sure it is suitable for them to live in. Mind you they were living in a two bedroom apartment with all three children in the same bedroom. The apartment was unkempt that is putting it kindly. I had to have a home study done and that person had to tour my house and then give a recommendation if I was fit to keep them. Remember I had them previously from December of 2005 until August of 2006. Then we had to get finger printed by the state patrol everyone over the age of 18 that lives in the home. Last but not least so the State can get its fair share of the grant monies they have come out to the home to license us a family placement foster care home.
In addition to all of this I take them to doctor appointments, dentist appointments and attend parent teacher meetings and deal with any other contact regarding the children. Also include are monthly visits from the case worker, monthly IEP's for the youngest one and host (and I use that term loosely) a monthly team meeting for my sister, the caseworker, family support worker and family advocate.
I am the one with the children and she is the one with the cheering section to help get down the right path. The icing on the cake with all this, the state has me jumping through all these hoops telling me until this is done and that is done I cannot be paid for care of the children.
So now that I have dotted all my i's and crossed all my t's I call the state today. I ask if system updated to recieve a check for November. Keep in mind that I have had the children since August. The response is no, I am sorry our system does not recognize that there should be a retro check cut. The irony in this is if you owe the government money they sure know how to flag you to get their money.
Insane I know. The government really needs to take a look at how they treat the ones that are trying to help fix what someone else has broken.
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