As many of you know, John and I have been saying month after month, week after week, "We should have the license soon". Well, that day may never come (I am being slightly dramatic since I am mad, of course).
Months ago I tried to get my fingerprinting completed, but someone misspelled my name when they put it in the system; not John's last name, just mine, which as you might recall is the same as his. Social worker called 3+ weeks ago and says we are all done. Time to sign official licensing paperwork and be on our way. Not long after that email came the, "Uh oh, I forgot you still need get fingerprinted" email. If you have ever been fingerprinted then you know it is not quick. You make an appointment weeks out to secure a 10 min time slot. I mentioned all this in a previous post. Long story short, social worker came over with paperwork and said "Let's go ahead and have you sign, I mean I am sure you do not have anything crazy on your record. As soon as your fingerprints and background check come in we will send your paperwork for final review to the supervisor who will then send it to the VP of the agency who will sign your license. You should have it in no time."
A week later I was able to get fingerprinted. Then we waited and waited. I was told the week before last they had the results, but the director was going to be out of town Wednesday-Friday; so we should have something the next week for sure (which was this week). I sent an email yesterday.
At 3:45 today I received an email with a list of items we now need due to a new policy that went into effect September 1st.
This means if everything had been done, through no fault of our own when we were told it would be done we would have been licensed 6 weeks ago, and this new stack of paperwork they need now would not be an issue. Would you like to know what they need?
1. 60 Days worth of pay stubs (already turned in a month's worth but now they want more due to the new policy)
2. Last year's tax return (thankfully my amazing husband knew exactly where it was
3. Household expense report (we turned in a financial snapshot our director thinks will be good enough meaning it probably won't be, because let's face it that is how the system works)
4. Possibly 2 itemized banks statements (I am not doing this because that is taking it too far. Tax return should be more than good enough.)
5. Renter's Insurance policy: the declaration page (I turned in an invoice which shows coverage, policy dates, company, and payment, but somehow this is insufficient.)
Just in case you missed the first 2 times I said it, this is all newly required information, September 1st.......this year, as in 30 days ago.
Disappointed and demoralizing are putting it delicately when describing my [Husband edit: Our. Definitely OUR.] current feelings. John, again being the amazing person he is and whiz at filing, knows where most of these documents are, allowing us to turn them in tonight via email. However, who knows how slow everyone else will move on their end? I can't tell you how excited John and I were this week when we thought there was a chance we would have that license in our hot little hands. The crushing disappointment is an unfortunate reminder the system we are getting into is broken. What has had me in tears this evening is realizing how frustrating this has been and we don't even have kids in the home yet. John and I were reminded that big ugly hurdles are yet to come. We never thought it would be easy, but we did think getting the license would be slightly easier.
I cannot express how strongly John and I both feel the call of God on our lives to foster, but that doesn't mean it is easy by any stretch. Today was a rather harsh reminder of how difficult navigating the foster system is, and we haven't even really begun. To think about the kids whose lives, health, safety, happiness are dependent on "the system" is scary. Our future children will need love and prayers more than I think we ever expected. We will need love and prayers more than we expected...especially for patience and understanding for all those who work within in the system, I think everyone is doing their best. I hope.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
A Rose by Any Other Name (to be dramatic of course)
I have failed in writing frequent blog posts. Truthfully, nothing exciting has happened or been worth reporting on the foster care front or home in general.
-John started his crazy semester. He was told under no circumstances should a seminary student take Moral Theology and Systematics in the same semester. I mean the titles alone say taking the classes at the same time is a bad idea......but what did our fearless leader do? He decided to take both classes at the same time. I'm sure this is all in good fun, but really it is nutty. Did I mention he is also taking Hebrew? Yeah this may end up being worse than the time he waited until his very last semester of college to take Physics. As John would say, it is an adventure! Work is going well. The church is moving right along into its busy fall season. Pumpkin patch, financial campaigns, and of course, the preparing for Christmas [Husband edit: "Christmas is coming" are the words of my house for all time].
-My own job stuff is going smoothly as well. I am enjoying my new job, love my patients, and am learning a great deal. With the exception of some not fun car issues 2 weeks ago, things have gone well.
-We have a new dog named Pippa. She is very sweet and I think will make a good companion for kiddos, if not the cats.
-We were able to finally get the opportunity to spend some time with some of our best friends who are finally moving back to Texas.
-Kids' room is finished. I will hopefully get pictures taken and posted this week.
-Basically, we have finally started to fall into a rhythm and routine which has been absolutely amazing. I don't do well with chaos yet.
In terms of our current situation with foster care, we are waiting. Waiting and waiting... and waiting seems to be more like it. After an exhaustive amount of online trainings we finally finished. At the very beginning of April I had issues getting fingerprinting/background check completed because of a misspelling with my last name. It probably doesn't help that I didn't do any name change paperwork until a year after our marriage and only then did I change my name on about half of my documents. Now I only have my driver's license and credit cards to change over, but I finally got my professional license, insurance, SS, and some other random documents into my married name. I love my husband with all my heart, but if men want women to continue to change their names, someone needs to come up with a better system. It is not pleasant. Like the loving wife I am, I made John go with me last year to the SS office. I was not about to deal with that mess alone. [Husband edit: Spoiler alert- it was a very hot mess.] We walked into the office at about 11:00 AM (which was our first mistake) and proceeded to the electric kiosk. From there we had to choose one of the options as to why we needed to be seen. To be fair, I felt there might have been some slight ambiguity in which category we were supposed to sign up with. I made a selection and received a number, at which point time becomes strange. I get number B202 or something and quickly look at the progress screen- which is currently on B97. About 30 minutes pass and now we are on B110. Executive decision: this isn't working. I suggest John go and get a separate number from one of the other categories/lines. Maybe one of those is moving faster. John makes a choice and gets number E98 and they are currently serving E46 (I can't quite remember our exact numbers, but you get the idea.). I am overjoyed. Surely the new and wonderful E line will move faster. It does not. In fact it quickly becomes apparent that this race is almost neck and neck in terms of which number will be called first, so I guess the joke is on us. Or karma or something. It must be some social experiment the SS office does to see who tries to game the system. A painfully long 2 hours and 20 minutes later John's number comes up. We go to the super "friendly" SS clerk who briskly asks, "What are you here for?" I say, "Name change." She says, "Oh. You have the wrong number. That isn't E." An infinitely long moment passes. I must have given a death stare because she quickly informs me that she will let it slide...just this once. I think, "Good lady, 'cuz I ain't getting married or changing my name again. This name will be on my tombstone so no need to inform of what will or will not happen next time." [Husband edit: Baby, you SO gangsta!] After that experience I was good for a while on the name changing experience so I didn't do any other documents for about 6 months.
-This encounter does inform a later one:
So back to foster care. There was an issue in April. I waited and waited. Our agency tried to fix the issue with no luck. Finally, just last week, our agency informed us that I can go and get my fingerprinting requirement completed. I took the soonest appointment in a small town about 45 min away. I get there ready to get this over with (remember this has been an issue for months). A lovely individual calls my name and I walk up to the front. She says, "I need your paper and DL." She proceeds to look at both and here is the best part, "Oh ummm, ma'am you cannot get this completed today because the name on your SS card and name on your DL are different. Another infinite moment passes. I want nothing more than to scream and hit someone. Mostly myself. I say, "I have my birth certificate, marriage license, professional license, anything you want. Please trust I am me and I have to get this done today." I don't know if she was fearful of what I might do or if she saw the look of desperation on my face and was moved by pity, but she said she had a plan. "Okay well I guess I put your married name under and alias or something." I'll take it", I said. 10 minutes later, shockingly without the loss of life or dignity, I had been federally fingerprinted and put in the system.
Literally, and I mean literally, every single piece of paper is completed and ready for approval. We are just waiting on the official signature of the agency VP and we will be licensed and on the list. This has been a crazy roller coaster and lesson in patience. Probably something that will come in handy with kids.
-John started his crazy semester. He was told under no circumstances should a seminary student take Moral Theology and Systematics in the same semester. I mean the titles alone say taking the classes at the same time is a bad idea......but what did our fearless leader do? He decided to take both classes at the same time. I'm sure this is all in good fun, but really it is nutty. Did I mention he is also taking Hebrew? Yeah this may end up being worse than the time he waited until his very last semester of college to take Physics. As John would say, it is an adventure! Work is going well. The church is moving right along into its busy fall season. Pumpkin patch, financial campaigns, and of course, the preparing for Christmas [Husband edit: "Christmas is coming" are the words of my house for all time].
-My own job stuff is going smoothly as well. I am enjoying my new job, love my patients, and am learning a great deal. With the exception of some not fun car issues 2 weeks ago, things have gone well.
-We have a new dog named Pippa. She is very sweet and I think will make a good companion for kiddos, if not the cats.
-We were able to finally get the opportunity to spend some time with some of our best friends who are finally moving back to Texas.
-Kids' room is finished. I will hopefully get pictures taken and posted this week.
-Basically, we have finally started to fall into a rhythm and routine which has been absolutely amazing. I don't do well with chaos yet.
In terms of our current situation with foster care, we are waiting. Waiting and waiting... and waiting seems to be more like it. After an exhaustive amount of online trainings we finally finished. At the very beginning of April I had issues getting fingerprinting/background check completed because of a misspelling with my last name. It probably doesn't help that I didn't do any name change paperwork until a year after our marriage and only then did I change my name on about half of my documents. Now I only have my driver's license and credit cards to change over, but I finally got my professional license, insurance, SS, and some other random documents into my married name. I love my husband with all my heart, but if men want women to continue to change their names, someone needs to come up with a better system. It is not pleasant. Like the loving wife I am, I made John go with me last year to the SS office. I was not about to deal with that mess alone. [Husband edit: Spoiler alert- it was a very hot mess.] We walked into the office at about 11:00 AM (which was our first mistake) and proceeded to the electric kiosk. From there we had to choose one of the options as to why we needed to be seen. To be fair, I felt there might have been some slight ambiguity in which category we were supposed to sign up with. I made a selection and received a number, at which point time becomes strange. I get number B202 or something and quickly look at the progress screen- which is currently on B97. About 30 minutes pass and now we are on B110. Executive decision: this isn't working. I suggest John go and get a separate number from one of the other categories/lines. Maybe one of those is moving faster. John makes a choice and gets number E98 and they are currently serving E46 (I can't quite remember our exact numbers, but you get the idea.). I am overjoyed. Surely the new and wonderful E line will move faster. It does not. In fact it quickly becomes apparent that this race is almost neck and neck in terms of which number will be called first, so I guess the joke is on us. Or karma or something. It must be some social experiment the SS office does to see who tries to game the system. A painfully long 2 hours and 20 minutes later John's number comes up. We go to the super "friendly" SS clerk who briskly asks, "What are you here for?" I say, "Name change." She says, "Oh. You have the wrong number. That isn't E." An infinitely long moment passes. I must have given a death stare because she quickly informs me that she will let it slide...just this once. I think, "Good lady, 'cuz I ain't getting married or changing my name again. This name will be on my tombstone so no need to inform of what will or will not happen next time." [Husband edit: Baby, you SO gangsta!] After that experience I was good for a while on the name changing experience so I didn't do any other documents for about 6 months.
-This encounter does inform a later one:
So back to foster care. There was an issue in April. I waited and waited. Our agency tried to fix the issue with no luck. Finally, just last week, our agency informed us that I can go and get my fingerprinting requirement completed. I took the soonest appointment in a small town about 45 min away. I get there ready to get this over with (remember this has been an issue for months). A lovely individual calls my name and I walk up to the front. She says, "I need your paper and DL." She proceeds to look at both and here is the best part, "Oh ummm, ma'am you cannot get this completed today because the name on your SS card and name on your DL are different. Another infinite moment passes. I want nothing more than to scream and hit someone. Mostly myself. I say, "I have my birth certificate, marriage license, professional license, anything you want. Please trust I am me and I have to get this done today." I don't know if she was fearful of what I might do or if she saw the look of desperation on my face and was moved by pity, but she said she had a plan. "Okay well I guess I put your married name under and alias or something." I'll take it", I said. 10 minutes later, shockingly without the loss of life or dignity, I had been federally fingerprinted and put in the system.
Literally, and I mean literally, every single piece of paper is completed and ready for approval. We are just waiting on the official signature of the agency VP and we will be licensed and on the list. This has been a crazy roller coaster and lesson in patience. Probably something that will come in handy with kids.
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