I thought it would be helpful to give a little insight into the players in the foster care game. There are a lot of them, and my phone has quickly filled up with various contacts related to Lovebug. We also have a pouch on our fridge filled with business cards for social workers, doctors, resources, etc. When we first got Lovebug, our weeks were filled with appointments, which was new to us. If you are looking at this path, be prepared to make time for lots of appointments. (Side note: our situation was complicated with Lovebug being an infant, AND having a stay in the hospital right after we got her).
In this post, I will discuss the variety of people in Lovebug's life. In the next post, I'll discuss the various appointments she had to get to, and still does.
Mom/Dad/Grandma/etc: Lovebug's biological family. We communicate with them fairly regularly via phone and text. I'm not sure if that's typical, but it happened that way for us. At the moment, it hasn't been an issue.
Support Worker: This is a resource for the foster family, and is employed by Iowa KidsNet. We call ours whenever we have questions about protocol, or need to know who to contact for something within 'The System'. She is also responsible for working with us to get re-licensed (a process which starts almost immediately after you get your license in the mail), making sure we get our continuing ed completed, etc. Ours happens to also be our PS-MAPP class instructor.
DHS Emergency Manager: This person gets the initial call to report that there is an issue in a home. It may be from a hospital, tip line, family member, etc. They do the investigation, and initial paperwork that is then submitted to the DHS Case Worker who takes over the case. They are also involved if/when children are removed from the home.
DHS Case Worker: This is the state worker who works with Lovebug's bio family to complete everything necessary to make Lovebug's environment safe and healthy to return to. They are assigned to each case as they come in, and work hard to 'front load' services when possible to make sure that kids don't have to be removed, if at all possible. The DHS Social Worker is employed by the county/state, and represents the family's best interests. It's also important to note that if the kids went home tomorrow and the case was cleaned up, but in a month, or a year, or three years, the family was back in 'The System', this worker would still be assigned to their case, if at all possible.
Attorney/Guardian Ad Litem: Mom, Lovebug, and her siblings all have separate attorneys to represent their best interests in this case. They will attend court hearings, family team meetings, or other official functions as necessary. They are also in communication with DHS and the judge assigned to the case, so if we needed a court order for something, this is who would obtain it for us.
Visits Supervisor: This person works for Four Oaks and is responsible for scheduling visits with parents, picking up/dropping off the kids each time, and supervising things while parents are visiting with their kiddos. This person takes notes each time about how visits went- what was said, how people reacted, etc. And those notes eventually make it into the case file, and are available for everyone's reference.
Pediatrician/Dentist/Therapists/Providers: If the kiddos you are taking in already have services happening for them, you'll need to know these people and have their phone numbers. Because of 'front loading services' (providing all possible services prior to removing children from a home), kiddos may have therapists or other providers they are working with already. It's important to stick with them if at all possible, since so much has already changed for a child. Any continuity you can keep is good.
So those are all the people we've met, so far in this journey. I know that there will be additional people down the line, depending on how each case progresses. Stay tuned for more!
-Jenn
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