Something Just Around the Bend

I had the same young man with me this weekend that was with me last weekend. And he ended up staying Monday as well because he had off from school and I had off from work. He’s coming again Friday-Saturday but his foster mother told him/me yesterday the county doesn’t want to make this a regular thing, so he will need to go home Saturday evening. He wants to stay until Sunday. Actually, he wants to move in with me and leave his current foster home. He likes being the only kid with a single foster mom. He is scheming on how to make this happen. When he asked me yesterday I told him in reality I am waiting to get a placement I can adopt and that if he were staying with me I would not be eligible for such a placement. He was undeterred. He plans to talk to his case manager when she comes out to see him this week. I should have been more firm, but I feel bad. He’s a good kid and he gives me no problems at all and if I were just doing foster care it would be totally fine to have him move with me. But, I’m not doing just foster care. I don’t mind having him on the weekends (and extended weekends) but I don’t want to jeopardize my ability to adopt if/when that time finally comes. I’m not too worried about it for a few reasons. A) I don’t think they move kids just because a respite home is more fun than their foster homes. B) This is a Berks County case. Enough said. Although, it might be nice for them to see I’m not whatever it is they think I am, I highly doubt they would approve this kid’s move to my house. C) It would mean a school change and a million other changes that will be hard on the kiddo (even if he denies it). And D) he is supposedly going home soon, so why disrupt everything at the end of his stay in foster care? It has been nice having a kid around the house and we have had a few nice weekends together, but I am still waiting for my perfect match.

 

Last week I was horrendously ill (probably the flu) and spent most of the week in bed. As a results, my house was filthy – ok, it was just messy and it bugged me. Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning, taking down the outside Christmas lights – and in this instance, the kiddo came in handy. He just hopped up on my porch railing (without shoes I might add) and popped all those clips off the rain spouting in a matter of minutes. I told him I would call him next year when I wanted to put the lights up since it took me probably five times as long to put them up as it took for him to take them down. Of course he acted like this was no big deal. I really got into the cleaning mostly because I felt like it was needed and also because I felt like a new placement is impending and must be just on the horizon, so the house should be clean for the troops to go marching through (as is the case with a new placement). I don’t know why I feel this way, maybe it is just wishful thinking, but I just wanted to make sure the house was in tip-top condition should the call come one day this week. I did get a call and message on my work phone while I was out sick last week. It was for three little girls all born one year after the other. I left a message stating I would accept the placement, but I have not heard anything since then. Of course, when I accepted I then thought about the space I have for the girls and realized it would mean moving my bedroom to what is now the kids room because there is no way three beds would fit in that tiny room. This would be quite an undertaking, but worth it in the end. But, I’ve already moved on from that one because I am sure the county will look for a larger home for the three little ones. Still, I am so sure something is just around the bend. It must be! It’s been long enough and I’ve be patient enough, so a placement must be imminent. I’m even all caught up on my laundry! So, it’s decided, a placement is practically on my doorstep!