We had our second sets of classes today. I am drained. It wasn't as emotional as the last set. I did cry once when the social worker was telling us about a case she has right now. The little girl is 5 years old who was placed within the month. Her foster mom noticed cuts all over her arm. She asked what happened and the little girl said she was itching herself. Her FM asked what she was itching herself with and she said a knife (her FM had all of the real knives set up high, so the little girl was using a butter knife). The girl watched her birth mom do it and she never "got hurt". She didn't know any better. :( How sad is that. I started crying at that point but then the SW also said upon placement they learned that she was sexually abused. Isn't this the saddest. What a horrible life. And the little girl was removed from the home because the mother was using. There is a chance that this girl would have never been taken. We were talking about this particular case because we were discussing how we won't know everything about a child when they are placed. The SW was never informed that the child cut herself. She was never told that the girl was sexually abused. So, like with any foster/adoptive parent, information isn't learned about a child until they are in your care. Which is fine and expected with us, but I think some of the other couples were having a hard time with that.
We also talked about the fact that we can't touch the child unless it is a loving embrace. I am not talking about hitting (that is obviously a no no). If your child is trying to run away you cannot grab them unless they are running into oncoming traffic. If they are running on the sidewalk, you can run with them, but you can't grab them and bring them back in the house. My big thing is, if she tries to get up from time-out we cannot grab her and put her back on the seat. No Super Nanny parenting there. I don't think it's fair that we will have one child (E) who can't get away with things, but our FC (foster child) can. So, this is going to require us to get a restraint license. I completely understand why this rule is in place. I am sure a lot of FP would abuse this. But I think this is a bit extreme. So, to sum it up class today was a bunch of, You can't do this or this.
On a completely different note, we went to the zoo this week.
The tulips were in full bloom
We were glad they got new manatees. They are cute little babies
I don't know if you can see E's smile in this picture? This is her future husband Corbin. I know, ADORABLE
Oh Annie I just love you and I am praying for you and you beautiful family!!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is really interesting! I never would have thought of that being the case.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a restraint license?