CORE complete!

We just got home from Denver where we took our CORE foster parent training. It was 12hours and it's supposed to cover the basics to get you ready for fostering. CORE training is offered almost everywhere and I don't exactly recommend taking it at the Lowry Family Center in Denver. The trainers were kind and passionate people but I really don't feel as prepared after the training as I thought I would. They covered many "emotional" basics which I am grateful for. But, they really strayed too far away from the course material and did not cover enough of the factual, step by step information. Maybe they've been doing this a long time and they have learned that the emotional stuff is much more valuable and the other stuff you will figure out when it actually happens and/or when you read your manual.
Thankfully I did walk away with a manual (full of typos and misspellings) that I can read and get up to speed on my own. But I do feel that those trainers need to get back on track. They told way too many personal stories, which got us behind and then they even cut the class an hour early. I wrote them an honest evaluation and left it at that.
On a more postive note, the people there for the training were really diverse and it was interesting to hear why they were getting into fostering. I was happy to hear that all ages of kids were "wanted", even teenagers and kids with special needs! There was one single lady there that only wanted kids aged 16-18! Wow! And one guy who had already been placed with a deaf girl. It really was inspiring and I was quite relieved to see that not everyone wanted the same easy age group we did.
Now to wait and see if we hear anything about little man this week...

Sad But Relieved

Our homestudy went great. I was surprised at how little they inspected the house. The only place they really wanted to look at was the room the child would be using and even then they just poked their heads in. I mean, they came into the house and saw that it was clean and big enough and we have a fenced in yard, etc, etc, but there wasn't the "inspection" that I was anticipating. The only things we need to "correct" was getting plug covers and a CO2 detector. So, that was easy enough.

Then we sat down with them and they asked us loads of questions about our personal life. Which I didn't mind one bit. I actually like answering questions about myself. But they were the same questions that were on the questionaire that we turned in early in the year. Remember that packet that I said took me an hour and a half to fill out? All over again. So, that seemed redundant. And we were scheduled for 2-4pm and it went until 4:30 and when we still were not finished we ended up scheduling another visit for next week.

The sad part is that when the subject of the little man came up they said he was with family and they might need us but maybe not. I asked, "What's the chance we'll need to take him?" They said they couldn't say. The kinship situation didn't seem like it would be long term but, "You never know". I can accept that answer and after sleeping on it, I'm happy with that answer. It means that we can go to training and have time to think about all this instead of coming home and having to decide right away. This isn't something you want to rush into, even though I was wholeheartly ready to jump in with both feet.

After we talked about little man they began to tell me about a new case that just came up. A four year old girl. They made me realize that we are definitely needed. And if it's not little man it will be someone else. I'm happy with whatever happens.

Life Backflip!

I've been busy! Right after my last post I got to do something VERY special. I hitched a ride with my caseworker as she piked up the little man from day care and delivered him to kindergarten. He's adorable, sweet, outgoing, polite... and when we dropped him off he asked, "Are you bringing that girl?" This was after she told him she's pick him up at 3. Cute! I had the opportunity to do this because my job is over in the Health and Human Services Department. I feel really lucky to have that connection through all of this. Otherwise, I'd probably be more in the dark about this boy than I am. I do know some details about him and his family, which I won't post here. Usually foster parents know very little about the family, at least that's the impression I get from other foster parents.
I've accomplished a lot in the past few days. Our guest bedroom/office has been cleared out. We decided it should be empty of any of our belongings so that the child really feels that it is their space. It's funny, we have no kid stuff though. Save for one childrens book called Thunder Cake. I don't even know what it's about but I put it in there.
I completed my first aid, which by the way you can do online at www.onlineaha.org. They do CPR too but I'm already certified. After the online test you do have to go to EMS and show them some skills you learned to get your actual card. Anthony's getting certified tonight because he prefers a real live class.
Our home study is scheduled for this Wednesday 2-4pm and they gave us the home study checklist so we could be as prepared as possible. It's amazing what they have to put on there... child must have a bed that is in a room not being used for other purposes (ie, kitchen, bathroom), home must have refridgeration, etc. So, somethings were no brainers but we did have to write up a family emergency plan. And of course there are lots of things we just want to do, to get ready.
Last but not least, our 12 hours of CORE training are this weekend. Then we'll be what they called pre-certified. Which means we can foster even though we aren't quite done yet. Then we might take in little man. Then my life will do a backflip.

Be careful what you wish for!

Husband and I just got back from our camping trip and when I checked my messages we had a message from our caseworker. "I'd like to talk to you about a possible placement."
Wow. The last thing I have time to do right now is write a blog but I am so dang excited and hopeful I just had to blurt it out here! He's 6 years old and I'm going to meet him today. We're getting our core training done next weekend and their going to expedite our home study for this week. I'm not saying we are for sure going to do this. But the possibility is there. Crazy!