Yesterday I went to the foster parent training and support group in our area. Our social worker from our first placement needed me to fill our some paper work and I asked if she had anymore kids she was looking for a placement for. She told me that there was another 12 year old boy that she was going to be investigating the situation of right away. Our worker said she would let us know what happened. So about five hours later I get a call from my husband asking me if we want to take 12 year old boy and letting me know what the situation is.
After talking about it we call the social worker back and let her know that if she cannot find someone in a closer proximity to his school that we would be willing to take him. She says that sounds good and she will let us know what she finds out. She also adds that she just found out he is 15 and not twelve. Are we still willing? I tell her we are still willing and about an hour later I get the call that they are coming out to our place as nobody else that she had called as a possible placement has called back.
So at about 7:30 pm we got our second placement. So far he is doing well I am sure that as he gets more comfortable here there will be things to work through. He is a really good eater and is very appreciative of any and ever thing we are doing for him.
You guys are brave! Some people prefer to take in teenagers. Because we have teens already I would not, but hey, you shouldn't have tantrums to deal with anyway :-)
ReplyDeleteI will admit that I was not really wanting to do teenagers, but when we were taking the PRIDE classes they really encouraged us to keep our home study more open and not tie it down by age as much. But to instead really look at what behaviors we were willing to work with. We both really felt that we wanted to be licensed 0-18.
ReplyDeleteI will say I was really hoping for a sibling group of 2-3 all under ten. So far that is not what has come our way. We have turned down one placement because if would not have been a good fit.
We may not be having the tantrums so far but teenagers come with their own set of issues and have a lot more life experience to deal with. I will say that I was scared at first thinking what in the world did I do accepting a 15 year old boy. But I really feel that God had a hand in us getting this placement. I am shocked at how God works things out.
I found out that the boys grandma was raised SDA and his aunt also an Adventist. He was telling be how one of his coached was a Christian and I asked him if he was he told me that he is working on it. The youth SS teacher told me he participated in the class and was asking and answering the questions in a very insightful way.