We had our follow-up appointment yesterday with the reproductive endocrinologist to discuss the test results from last month, and we got really good news overall. One of my hormone levels is a little high, but all the other tests came back normal. We are really lucky. Both my dear doctor friend Meghan and my doctor are optimistic about our chances of conceiving again. We are of course quite relieved to hear this, especially in light of our growing timeline for Noelle (it's looking like fall of 2009 at this point) and the seemingly impossible task of obtaining our fostering license.
The latest news in foster land is that I got an email from our licensing worker last week, one week after she said I'd have the license (glad I didn't hold my breath!), and she had figured out that our paperwork was now being held up because the old background check form was used instead of the new one. "Excuse me?" I wanted to say - "You're preventing a child from having a home because of a silly change in form that probably happened months after we had the background checks done?!" Of course I didn't say any of that. It seems this woman is barely keeping her head above water, and I'm sure she hears these kinds of complaints from people like me all the time. I simply thanked her. Unfortunately, she once again made a promise she hasn't kept - she said we'd have our license by the end of the week. Friday came and went and still no license. I emailed her Monday to follow up. No reply yet. If I thought contacting her supervisor would help, I'd do it. But the truth is that she alone is not the problem - it's the entire system.
I admit we're having some doubts about all of this now. If it's this difficult to deal with the foster care system before you're even a foster parent, what must it be like for foster families, who have to deal with multiple caseworkers and court appearances and meetings with the birth parents. We weren't concerned about any of this until we realized what a mess things are. It's hard to believe at this point that we could trust any part of the process to go right.
Having said all of that, if I got the call next week I'd do it in a heartbeat. So we'll just continue to wait and see - wait and see. This is our new normal.
The latest news in foster land is that I got an email from our licensing worker last week, one week after she said I'd have the license (glad I didn't hold my breath!), and she had figured out that our paperwork was now being held up because the old background check form was used instead of the new one. "Excuse me?" I wanted to say - "You're preventing a child from having a home because of a silly change in form that probably happened months after we had the background checks done?!" Of course I didn't say any of that. It seems this woman is barely keeping her head above water, and I'm sure she hears these kinds of complaints from people like me all the time. I simply thanked her. Unfortunately, she once again made a promise she hasn't kept - she said we'd have our license by the end of the week. Friday came and went and still no license. I emailed her Monday to follow up. No reply yet. If I thought contacting her supervisor would help, I'd do it. But the truth is that she alone is not the problem - it's the entire system.
I admit we're having some doubts about all of this now. If it's this difficult to deal with the foster care system before you're even a foster parent, what must it be like for foster families, who have to deal with multiple caseworkers and court appearances and meetings with the birth parents. We weren't concerned about any of this until we realized what a mess things are. It's hard to believe at this point that we could trust any part of the process to go right.
Having said all of that, if I got the call next week I'd do it in a heartbeat. So we'll just continue to wait and see - wait and see. This is our new normal.
Comments
rach