An Update to the Plan?

We had our renewal review yesterday and our application will be submitted this week, then it has to go through a bunch of process until we get our certification for next year.

During the meeting, an option that hadn’t been discussed before came to the table. When we are ready to take a placement next year, we could actually go to all the shelters near us (possibly all the ones that the kids go to the school in our neighborhood so they wouldn’t have to transfer) and get a list of kids that fit our criteria (5 and up, plan for reunification with family) and basically pick our next placement.

In some ways this sounds like a really good idea because it gives you the option of trying to make sure you won’t have any major problems. You would be able to transition slowly from the shelter to your house. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to change schools. You would be helping out a kid who basically didn’t have any foster home options available to them when they entered the system. And you would hopefully be ensuring that they do get back to their parents once the parents have met their requirements.

But in other ways, it makes me feel sick. I really don’t want to be made aware of how many children are living in shelters so close to us. I know the numbers, but it would break my heart to actually go to the shelter and see them. I really don’t want “me” in the middle of process, or at least the smallest amount of me as possible. We try to limit the things/behaviors/diseases we would say no to, but to go “pick” out a child sure puts a lot more of the decision making in my shoes. I’ve found that I don’t always make the best choices. And to say no to the rest. Ugh.

I guess when it comes down to it, we would end up narrowing our criteria and narrowing our criteria until we are left with one child in the list. It seems to trivialize the fact that we are working with human beings. But the other side of the coin is that those children really do have a bleak future ahead of them. The system has already failed them by not having a home for them to go into and if their parents don’t get their act together, they have an even lower chance of being adopted than ones that are in foster homes already.

So . . . what do we do? Is it much different than waiting for the state to call us regarding a child that is entering the system? Probably not. In fact, we may get more info about a child from a shelter because they’ve had a chance to assess them. Its just something new to think about and chew on until Jan. Prayers please.