Homestudy Time

We have our first homestudy visit today. I guess I'm a touch nervous but more because of the aggravation it causes in having to actually clean the house a bit. I quickly try to pick up the bedroom and make the bed. Brush my teeth...yuck..I accidently used bubble gum toothpaste while I throw stuff into the laundry room and hope she doesn't open the door. I'm probably a lot less nervous than a lot of you out there because I have children, and I am not in any way indicating that makes me a better mom , but I think it relaxes you in some ways. I also think that we tend to forget how many families social workers see. This may sound a bit controversial, and I don't want it to be....I know many families are foster families and do it out of love and treat the children with gentle hands, and I respect and admire that. This isn't pointed at you or those who know you.

All I am saying is, in my opinion, the foster/social services system in the United States is pretty poorly run. Foster parents have to go through homestudies (state subsidized of couse) just like us. That gives me great pause. I once attended a woman's business seminar with breakout sessions. Just because it sounded interesting, I spent an hour in a breakout seminar listening about the state of California's foster care system. Most of the time was listening to a 17 year old Hispanic girl talk about neglect that she got from her birthparents and how she was in and out of different foster homes all her life. Nobody really made a difference in her life and loved her. She wanted to go to college and get involved with the system so she could try to make a difference with someone's life in the future. Talk about overcoming odds. And then there's the foster parents I read about in Ohio a few months ago who looked normal and lived in a normal neighborhoold. But when a social worker came for a visit she found the kids locked in dog cages.

And that's extreme, I know. My point is, I think sometimes, we worry to extremes about these interviews when the social workers actually want to place babies with us. And I think the majority of us really are good, loving, caring people who want babies more than anything.