Last night's class was the end of Step 1. Feels like it was more than just one step, but our last class introduced us to what's about to come.....and to be honest, it feels like we're standing on the beach waiting for the hurricane to hit.
Last night was Panel Night and about seven different people came to speak to us that we may or may not be involved in over the next few years. One of our classmates is a manager at Chili's and he brought all kind of food. We (along with another couple) brought enough drinks to float a boat. Our class really came together to throw a party.
First up was a CPS Investigator. He explained what he did and how he would interact with us. His job sounds very stressful. The thing we got the most out of his presentation is that we should be prepared for anything. The whole story doesn't always show up on day one. A lot of couples were concerned because, like us, they have a bed and are set up for a 3-10 year old. But, a lot of us are being licensed for 0-7. He said that as "foster" parents, he may have to place a baby with little to no notice and if we didn't have a car-seat, crib, diapers, etc, he wouldn't leave the child there. We freaked out a little until we remembered - We're going to foster "legal risk" so we'll have a couple of days warning. No matter, we can make due in 30 minutes with a quick trip to Wal-Mart. The investigator seemed like he was really helpful when he dropped off children. But, I'm sure when he's dropping a newborn off at 3 am, he just wants to get home. He was a good introduction to who we were going to be talking to the rest of the night.
Then we talked to a lady from CASA - a volunteer organization that acts as an advocate for the foster kids throughout their experience. They aren't affiliated with CPS, but almost act as a watchdog group over CPS and the foster parents to make sure everybody is playing together nicely. They also show up for court dates. The toughest thing for us was figuring out how each of these panel members would fit in to OUR situation. It was easy to see how they helped with emergency foster sitations.
Next up was a lady from Early Childhood Assistance. Any child under age 3 qualifies for a bunch of free stuff - cereal, food, formula....I'm sure the list goes on. I was concentrating on my mini-burger and cheesecake at that point.
Then we talked to a lady from Conservatorship. She is the liason between the foster families and the birth families. She works out the visitation schedules and makes sure the kids are well taken care of.
Then we talked to someone from Adoption Placement. Once a child has been determined "adoptable", she gets them and helps in the adjustment. She didn't have any contact with birthparents and deals with foster and adoptive families only. If I was on the panel, I think I wanted her job out of all of them. They all seem incredibly stressful, but her's had some happy endings.
Last, we talked to a lady about the paperwork at adoption. A lot of people had questions for her. Turns out, there is a chance that we could get adoption subsidies. That was something we had never heard before.
We found out at the end of class that we're not done yet. We have to read some stuff and take a quiz on AIDS. Then, we have to take a 45 minute class at the end of this month on Psycotropic Medications. Since most, if not all, of the kids are ADHD, we'll probably be dealing with that.
We spent a long time saying goodbye to everyone and we exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses so we can all keep in touch with what everybody ends up with when it's all said and done. I don't know how successful we'll be at staying in touch, but I hope we stay in touch with a couple of the couples.
So.....just like that - it's done. No more PRIDE classes. I'll miss Merlene, our co-trainer. And I made sure she knew it, too. Lori and I will probably have her over. At least I hope so.
What's up next? Well....we have to wait for the state of California to do the background check on me. Good news is they cashed the check today. Then we have to take a couple more training classes. Then we have to wait for our homestudy to get approved. I'm excited about that. Carey said we could read it when it came in. I'm anxious to see how we're presented. THEN - we'll be licensed.
Licensed means we wait some more. But, like I've been saying from day one - I'm as excited today as I was when this all started. It's a strange excitement though. I'm not real sure what I'm excited for. I guess it's just standing on the edge, awaiting the unknown. Knowing that we have no idea what's coming. But, now we feel like we're trained well enough to know who to call when we don't know what we're doing.
So far so good.....Updates as things happen.
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