Memoir #51 Sucky guardians and battles with DHS

If you’ve read most of my posts here you may think reading this memoir is déjà vu and the truth is this will be another rant about DHS and this time I’m throwing in the Guardian Ad Litem =)

Sorry to vent, but I think it’s all relevant to the job so I promise I will try to keep it short and sort of sweet…enjoy ;)

Let’s start with good ‘ol DHS.  Well, what do you know, when I began contacting them to add our new foster boys to our case for CDC (child day care) benefits…imagine this…they ignored me.  In fact, even my relentless persistence got me nowhere.  I had to figure out who the supervisor was and then pursue her with no response.  When I was about to contact the director of our county’s branch…I finally got an email response of all things and it wasn’t good news. 

Oh, we sent you paperwork about a month ago she said, that if you didn’t contact us we would close your case.  Funny how I did not get this paperwork.  Ironically, they closed my case on March 19 and we got the boys on March 20.  As you can imagine, closing my case sets us back a couple of light years in DHS time and we have to start the entire painstaking process over…thank you DHS, I have so much extra time on my hands! 

The good news is, we got a new case worker and I’m pretty sure A.W. (our previous case worker) is just as relieved not to have to deal with a crazy foster-mommy lawyer calling him every daily as I am to not have to deal with his lazy bum (sorry it’s true).  I am just hoping that this new case worker cares a little more than A.W. did and will at least return my calls or respond to my letters for goodness sake.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with these benefits, I’ll explain briefly what they are.  What happens when you are a foster parent and you work full time is that you can qualify for CDC benefits for the children.  This will be a percentage of the day care costs (60-90% depending on other factors) that one can get reimbursed.

Qualifying for these benefits is seemingly easy but applying and getting everything set up is for some reason incredibly difficult.  One of the basic problems is that the DHS case workers do not communicate with you at all.  For example, if you filled out one line of the application incorrectly, you would probably receive a full on denial letter 6 weeks later without an explanation.  That is how they roll.  I’ve found that persistence is key and I know that part of my job as a foster parent is advocacy but for once I just wish it was easier. 

I had to battle with DHS last time for our two foster daughters’ benefits for months and months and finally show-up in person fully intending to have my hearing in Lansing.  Miraculously when you have your act together and you show up at their office in a suit, they figure it out for you.  Too bad they were a day late and a dollar short…we did get reimbursed for the benefits that the girls were entitled to but I bet it was 3-4 months later for JJ and 7-8 months later for Raya.  In the meantime, you guessed it, foster parents foot the entire day care bill and it is oh so costly.

So where do we stand today, well, all items have been turned in at this point.  I will follow-up this week and keep you posted.  Progress is gained…

Guardian oh guardian…where art thou guardian?

So again, I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this but I try to think a new situation could be different and hope for all positive things…well, I’m thinking the guardian (aka random attorney who gets cases appointed to him and does the bare minimum) isn’t going to be at all better than the guardian for our girls was…and really I am just bummed out!

I was very excited when I received a letter from this attorney’s firm on letterhead saying please call us to set up an appointment, we want to meet you guys and the boys etc.  Well I have called, right away and I have left very detailed messages and you know what?  I have received no call back.  It has been weeks now.

Then it all started coming back to me when JJ’s guardian had the chance to petition the Judge to re-new the supervised visits when she herself witnessed JJ tell the workers her mom was hurting her and you know she didn’t and she wouldn’t and it was a complete copout…that’s another story but you see why I think this is just crap.

Why does this attorney send this letter out anyway? Oh yeah, he is required by law to see the children in person at least once when he is given their case. Once.  So how can he possibly know what’s in their best interest when he knows nothing about them???

I don’t know about you but when I hear the word guardian I think protector…someone who is going to do their upmost for these children and ensure that their interests are being protected…

Well in my experience these guardian ad litems are nothing close to guardian angels… =(  and it makes me mad!

Why be on this court appointed list then? Why waste taxpayers money when you are nothing but a body to satisfy the law’s requirement that one guardian be appointed for the children?

“The times we find ourselves having to wait on others may be the perfect opportunities to train ourselves to wait on the Lord.” ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

And now to leave you and I with some encouraging words from the word of our Lord.  Paul never even met the Colossian Missionaries but this is how he prayed for them knowing they were doing God’s work.

Colossians 1:11-12

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works.

We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard.  As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.

We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives.

It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

Blessings!