Continued Education

To keep out foster care license up to date, we need to complete 15 “approved” hours of training classes every year. We read books and watch informational webinars, attend zoom foster parent association meetings and of course wrote reports about them because you know how DHS loves their reports. 🤣

Here are a few more that we did in addition to that ironic “lunch n learn” training about the dept initiative to get permanency for children as quickly as possible. 

Two TCU Karyn Purvis training videos. These came from the twins’ therapists and were definitely not new information to us, since we live trauma, attachment, and sensory processing disorders every day with our little ones, but we enjoyed the refresher techniques and  the renewed hope in their potential for healing and healthy development through our attentive love and connection. 

Court On Day 1,191....

Since I can’t post pics the children, I thought I’d post these comically ironic screenshots from a zoom training hosted by the department. It’s for their new “every day counts” initiative, where the department announced a goal to get children who’s parental rights have been terminated adopted within 3 months after the TPR.  Because “children should not be sitting in limbo for over 100 days. That’s unacceptable.”

Can you hear me laughing yet? 

I spent almost four hours in court today. 

One of those hours was where I was being vilified... you know, for advocating for children who are suffering in limbo. My capability as a mother was challenged. 

Listen. I am far from perfect. 

But this I know:

I am an excellent mother. 

It is my life’s greatest work. 

And I am doing a damn good job. 

Today was a disgusting disappointment, that I should  not allow to hurt me or surprise me any more, but it still does. 

Also, while we are on the topic of how people doing at their jobs, here’s a stat for everyone: 

The twins have been in foster care for 1,191 days. 

One THOUSAND, one HUNDRED, and NINETY-one days. 

Another fun fact: 

Parental rights were terminated 728 days ago. 

SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT DAYS. 

And thanks to a DEPARTMENT APPEAL, they’re will be hundreds more days of waiting ahead. 

Who is failing what now? 

Ok then.