LiberBEARian
[foster] day 3!
LiberBEARian
the kid is great
LiberBEARian
Her case manager still hasn't written me
LiberBEARian
I asked (on behalf of the kid) if it was okay to take her to her uncle's place because he lives locally and she misses him and has visited him plenty of times before. No answer
LiberBEARian
I asked for her Mass Health insurance info. She had a massive eye infection and I need to make follow up appointments with her primary, an ENT, and an opthalmologist. No answer
LiberBEARian
My case manager is now getting on this case manager's ass about it
LiberBEARian
I'd like to at least talk about the possibility of her getting a job since she wants it and my case manager wants it.
Ptriciadactyl
I'm angry with her caseworker!
Ptriciadactyl
she is having health problems, this is an urgent issue! hand over her health insurance info, holy shit
LiberBEARian
Aaaand predictably I'm the point of contact person for everything because I'm "the mom". We both work full time from home
LiberBEARian
I CC sergio on emails. He gets dropped off these emails by the case managers. I put him back on.
LiberBEARian
When they call, they all call me
Ptriciadactyl
sure, let's compound the 'mental load of running a household falls overwhelmingly on women' issue our society has.
LiberBEARian
Yesterday I had my own therapy appointment. My mom walks into it and sits down on the couch. My therapist and I fall silent and I go "....? Mom?" "oh don't mind me I'll be quiet" "NO, MOM"
Ptriciadactyl
LiberBEARian
No one else seems to remember her pill times. Sergio is like "okay you can go to bed" and I'm like "no she can't she has to have these antibiotics with food firs"
LiberBEARian
The kid is like "yeah my eye is blurry" and I'm like "hooray we need to get you to a specialist like yesterday"
Ptriciadactyl
can you help her set up pill reminders on her phone?
LiberBEARian
Yeah I might
LiberBEARian
She doesn't have a driver's license. She doesn't want to take the bus to school and is asking us to drive her when it starts up again in six weeks
Ptriciadactyl
I've been using an app called TakeYourPills lately
LiberBEARian
It's a 40 minute round trip at 6am which, fun
LiberBEARian
And she says "Yeah I have problems with budgeting and saving money" and she's aging out next year.
Ptriciadactyl
(my app gives me notifications at 10AM and 10PM for all my meds, and they stay until I hit take, skip, or snooze)
Ptriciadactyl
(you can set them for whatever meds and whatever times of day)
LiberBEARian
And it wouldn't be so bad except there's a lady who showed up at her former foster mom's place as part of the transition program but the kid decided she was "too annoying" and blocked her from her phone
LiberBEARian
But on the upside
LiberBEARian
we got her a library card and she loves it. she placed an order for a book with the librarian
LiberBEARian
she loves the room
LiberBEARian
she takes her pills when I ask her to
LiberBEARian
And when we hit a snag (she wanted a pet and I said no), she was like "okay" and didn't fight about it
LiberBEARian
She has food, the room is cooled down, I'm able to work from home without worrying she'll sneak out of the house
LiberBEARian
We were coming home from a crochet thing last night and talking about stuff and I went "haha yeah when I was 12-16 I didn't speak to anyone. I just shut myself in my room. Bad case of depression" and she went "whoa. mood."
LiberBEARian
Because we were talking about past mistakes and shit. Anyway she's a great kid and I like her a lot
Jaq
aw, she sounds great at least
sugarplum fairy
Does she have a guardian ad litem? Random question, I know, but I’m certified as such and stuff like that is the reason we exist. The case worker should have totally gotten back to you, but I’ve talked to so many who are working 60+ hr weeks for a 40 hr week contract and are insanely swamped. It’s a horribly understaffed and overworked system.
sugarplum fairy
So sometimes the GAL is the best approach if she’s been assigned one
sugarplum fairy
(We tend to only get a few cases so we can focus when needed, vs the actual case workers)
🐍 mamushi 🐍
way to go on foster parenting, I'm so happy for
you, how long have you been doing this
🐍 mamushi 🐍
didn't know if day 3 was just this kid or in general
LiberBEARian
sugarplum fairy : I don't believe so, no
LiberBEARian
🐍 mamushi 🐍 : day 3 with this kid, but we've been registered about 5 months or so
chrismas creep
seconding Ptriciadactyl on the med reminder app. I've been using Medisafe for years, which is great bc it'll keep track of dosages, etc and warn about possible interactions between your different meds. the only thing I don't like about it is that the alarm sound is a shaking pill bottle which isn't the most discrete sound when I'm out in public >_>
ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴘʀɪᴄᴋ 👅
I would check to see if the library has any programs for her to look into. sometimes they host weird Life Skills workshops, you might be able to find some that do like...job hunting/interviewing skills/how to budget 101
spooky queer
^ seconding the library! a wonderful resource
spooky queer
especially for teens
spooky queer
lots of youth-centered workshops
spooky queer
usually
LiberBEARian
Today was long. Worked 8-5, got up at 7 to make sure she had breakfast and her pills, slept at noon-1, went to NH with her, Sergio and my mom. Made doctor appointments and follow-ups
LiberBEARian
sat in a hot car with a bored teenager for 40 long silent minutes
LiberBEARian
but made it out
LiberBEARian
and got to write "relationship to parent - foster mom" for the first time on an intake form
LiberBEARian
and she got to decorate her room the way she likes it
LiberBEARian
and tomorrow is another day
LiberBEARian
*relationship to patient
LiberBEARian
it seems like such a weird little thing to make me want to cry
LiberBEARian
but getting to put "foster mom to X patient" on a random doctor's form almost did it
Lady Stardust
ahhh I love this for you <3
Jay
aaaah, I'm so glad it's working out so well, and I hope the things that are looming go smoothingly
ruthgaroux ♥︎
^ same, I'm so glad you're having such a good experience w her so far
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