Raise your hand if you have an honest to goodness I'm a Foster Parent in the state of...certificate???
I've read on several blogs about people receiving "certificates" stating you are now a foster parent. We've been at this 5 years and I've never seen a certificate. Matter of fact, we have no idea when we were official foster parents. We were sitting & waiting for someone to call (hahahaha) to tell us we had been approved when the phone rang for a placement.
Along about May every year they come and do our yearly renewal, but we've never had anything in writing saying we are foster parents. Is that odd?
UNLESS you count the little laminated card I got this year when I complained that a bmom saw me at wallymart and demanded I have a little impromptu visit with her and the extended family right then and there. She threatened to call the police & say I had her child without her consent. I called her bluff, and said,"go for it, we'll see which one of us goes to jail". Three months later I got a little card that said and I quote:
D is performing foster care services for *&^(&*^ county dfacs. Your cooperation is appreciated.
It's fill in the blank. And has an expiration date for this month! I had to beg for that. Something to identify myself with, in case CRAZY ever happens again.
9 comments:
Not raising my hand.
I recently learned we can get a free membership to a children's museum. You must have your license to get it. I've requested one but, have not received it yet.
I've had my current kiddos for 7 months and yet to have a medical card.
License from the state - no certificate per se.
In the state of Arizona we get a license saying how many children we are approved for and the age range. also when ever we get a placement we get a peice of paper called "Notice to Provider" it states our name and the foster child's name and basically states that said child is in our care.
We've got nothin'.
I have a small card (not laminated) saying that I am a certified foster parent. I ALSO have run into birth parents while out and about and I ran the other way to avoid any 'issues'. SO I guess if it came down to it, it would be my word against theirs.
We have a certificate saying, "The ***** home is an Oregon State foster home through DHS. They are certified for 1 female children under the age of 3."
That's actually the wording! 1 female children under the age of 3!
Uuuuuh, we have 2 boys. Before that we had 3 girls. I brought this to the attention of our worker who said, "Oh. Yeah, well. It doesn't matter."
Hmmmmm. OK.
I have a non-laminated card that I carry around in my purse that says I'm a foster parent. We have to show it to get in free at the local pool in the summer. Even though we got our first kid in May and then graduated GPS classes in June, our yearly review is in August. So from June until August of each year we aren't technically certified for anything ... to be foster parents, for first aid & CPR, etc. I don't recall getting a certificate for anything other than completing GPS classes. Although we got a letter once saying we were licensed for only 2 kids and I called inquiring about it since we had 3 foster at the time, but it wasn't a certificate or anything.
Hearing your stories makes me want to get a group of people together and take over the system there and completely renovate it. It sounds so messed up.
We have an actual certificate that is replaced every year. It has our name, address, how many kids we are licensed for and our licensing worker's name and phone number. With each placement we get a placement agreement that specifies the child's name, our name and address, the date of placement, the CW's name, address and phone, the supervisor's name and phone and the baby's attorney's name and phone. We get a separate document that tells what the child's special needs are (if any) and who may visit them, when and how. I carry a copy of the placement agreement with me all the time so I can show that the child is with me legally. I've never run yet into a birth family member while out and about, but it would cover me if I did and had to prove myself.
I have an actual certificate from the state of North Carolina. Not that I know where it is right now. I can't believe the Bmom acted so foolish in Wal-mart. I have always feared running into Bparents in public.
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