That is what I am now. Well, technically Jon and I have been licensed to be foster parents since January. We said yes to many different kids and had no luck getting a placement until about 2 weeks ago. That is when we got the phone call for a sibling group of 3 and for privacy reasons, they will be referred to as A, B, and C... just to keep things simple.
We got the referral call for them at about 4:30 on a Tuesday. Jon and I talked it over and felt that it was a challenge that we would be willing to take on. We used the logic that 3 healthy children with no delays would be easier than having a medically fragile child. You know, less appointments, therapy sessions, etc. We had yet to get a phone call for a child that was healthy with no mental disturbances or physical disabilities. Not that we didn't say yes to children that were in that situation. We had said yes to children with feeding tubes, Down's syndrome, sexual abuse victims, etc. This was kind of like hitting the jackpot. Just a few hours later when I pulled into the driveway after a long 12 1/2 hour shift, there they were. Jon was holding 9 month old baby C, 22 month old toddler B was sleeping on the couch, and 4-year-old A was standing by the door because she was obviously scared of our dog... and kitten. I barely remember any of the meeting with the intake coordinator. I couldn't remember her name even if I tried. There were 3 large binders of paperwork filled with medical information, legal information about their bio parents, a life book that I am supposed to fill out, and a mile long list of what we are to do next.
It was very overwhelming.
The intake coordinator wished us good luck and then she left. And in that moment, our house of 4 became a house of 7. I went through the diaper bag that came with them. There were a couple diapers, no wipes, some small cans of formula, and two dirty bottles. There were a few other things in there but not much. My heart was breaking for these girls and I could not wait to get to the store and buy them everything that they deserved. I then realized that it would be a massive shopping trip that would have to wait and that I should just get the girls the essentials for the night/next day. The county gave us a voucher to take to Walmart to get the children what they needed so I ran to Walmart and bought them each some pajamas and an outfit for the next day, a pack of new bottles, socks, and a pair of shoes. The total didn’t even come near the amount that was on the voucher. It turns out that the voucher is a one-time use only so I paid for their pajamas out of my own money and returned home. Jon and I got the girls ready for bed. Amazingly, they all went to bed with no problems and I returned to Walmart after everyone was asleep to get everything they needed. Clothes, shoes, hair care items, toothbrushes, swimming suits, diapers, wipes, formula, bottle brushes, bibs, the works. I got home at almost 2 in the morning and had to be to work at 10 the next day.
When everyone woke up the next morning, I showed the kids their outfits that they were going to be wearing. A was so excited to get new clothes. I handed her underwear to put on and she held them in the air and danced around. She wasn’t wearing any when she came to us so I bet that would be kind of exciting! Everything else about our first morning went smoothly until we got to their daycare. I had been calling the county all morning to ensure that they were going to fax over the paperwork needed to enroll them. When we went into the office, I was told that they had received no paperwork so I started making phone calls. To make a long story short, I ended up having to take the kids to another foster family for a babysitting type situation and I was an hour late to work. Luckily, my boss is very understanding and didn’t write me up. (I am still in the 90-day probation period and being late could have gotten me fired) Oh, and then at almost 2 in the afternoon, I got a phone call that the paperwork was pushed through and I would be able to drop them off at the daycare the next day with no hassle.
Jon picked
up Liam and Adelyn from the sitter and I picked up our new additions from
daycare and our first 24 hours was in the books.
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