Fosterhood in NYC

Jun 17

Was I Suppose to Argue About Something?

First Conversation with New Adoption Case Worker at Foster Agency: There are several issues with the adoption.
Me: Really?
CW: Yes. Why is your last name on the birth certificate?
Me: It's my impression that the birth mom was trying to convey her intent for me to adopt Clementine. I don't think anyone was at the hospital to help guide her through the process. (Wish I would have just said 'You'll have to ask the birth mom')
CW: Have you chosen an attorney yet?
Me: Am I supposed to? I'm just learning how this works.
CW: Well, yes. We're not going to do it for you.
Me: Okay, I'll get on that.
CW: But we can't even process this adoption until she's been in your home for at least a year.
Me: Okay. As long as she stays with me, I don't have a problem with that. Oh, wait- this is the case even though the judge specified that the adoption paperwork be started immediately?
CW: Yes.
Me: okay, no problem.
CW: And you're not going to get a subsidy.
Me: Okay.
CW: The supervisor (director?) of adoption wants to meet with you this week to make sure you understand these things.
Me: Sounds good.
CW: When can you meet.
Me: Any afternoon works for me.
CW: The supervisor isn't free then. Me: Okay, just tell me a time then.
CW: I'll have to call you back.
Me: No problem.
CW: and you're meeting with the parents once a month?
Me: Actually twice a month for the required sibling visits.
CW: No, you should not be doing that, the mother can't be there.
Me: Okay (I wish I would have articulated that I was simply following the directions of the previous case worker and asked her to coordinate with him).
CW: You and the siblings foster mom have to meet separate from the family visits.
Me: So the siblings foster mom has to come to the foster agency an additional day?
CW: You have to work that out with her.
Me: Okay. I'm definitely not invested in increased parent visits right now. Any help I could get in coordinating with the other foster mom would help a lot. She's very busy.
CW: Well, we'll have to meet.
Me: Okay, just let me know a time.
CW: You've only had this child two months, you can't adopt her for a year.
Me: Okay. Do you think there's a chance I won't be able to adopt her? (I wasn't worried, but I couldn't figure out where this was going).
CW: Oh, no. She's your child. The parents surrendered conditional only to you. We aren't going to take your baby.
Me: oh, okay, that's good!

We stayed at Bishop’s Lodge Resort. Not the most baby-friendly place, but the girls loved the horses.

Jun 16

Camilla, the bride, got a taste of a busy Sandy.

Clem Clem.

Very adventurous friends decided that hiking at 7,000 feet with the baby ladies is totally doable.

Jun 15

Needless to say, Sandy tore up the water like an Olympic champion.

Love this one.

Congrats to Camilla and Peter!

We’re having such a great time. I don’t want to go back to city life…it’s so relaxing here and so far from foster care.

Jun 14

Family photo time.

I LOVE this photo of Asia and Sandy (don’t worry, there’s no way you could identify Sandy from this profile). Everyone is just assuming that Sandy is hers and Clementine is mine- and folks are real chatty out here- we just go with it.

Maybe some of you want to wrap around these new foster parents?

Not sure where they live, but it sounds like these new foster parents to an 11 month old need support.

Jun 13

Little voices everywhere

Sandy will now repeat a lot of sounds. They include “ba-ba” “bye-bye” and “ma-ma”. That’s if you can distract her from running her tongue up and down her new bottom teeth.

Clementine recently burst on the scene and will make all kinds of loud “conversation” if you talk to her. Somehow her noises sound like real words. Several times Asia and I have run over to the other to ask “Did you hear that? Did she just say ‘I want some pizza with anchovies’?” And the other will say “That’s EXACTLY what I just heard too!” It’s creepy (in a fun way)!

The baby ladies did SO WELL on the flight yesterday!