Most Certainly an Unpopular View

Administrative note: I haven't blogged for the past few days because our Internet connection has been down since Friday morning. We ended up having to buy Internet service from a second provider as back-up, since our first provider hasn't been able to resolve the problem.


For those unacquainted, Process is a social worker who blogs about her life as a CWS worker. Although I have a certain amount of respect for her because she does a very tough job, much of the time she and I don't see eye to eye.

Yesterday, she authored a post, An Unpopular View, that comes as a follow-up to the recent survey that revealed the obvious news that foster parents aren't paid enough. In her post, Process opined that she believes the best foster families are the ones who are willing to make sacrifices for their foster children.

Frankly, her opinion pisses me off.

I see nothing particularly noble about suffering or sacrifice. Foster parents do the right thing for their kids because it's the right thing to do. However, they shouldn't be sucked into financial difficulties because the government isn't holding up their part of the deal.

I think that most foster parents make sacrifices on a daily basis for their kids. I know we've made plenty of sacrifices for our child. We've had to cut back on our work schedule, we've had to deal with acting-out behaviors, we've had to go to numerous doctor, psychological, and court appointments. We don't get to have fun as a couple any more. We are home schooling our daughter because our local school district can't or won't give her the services she needs. Every time we ask our county for help, they refuse to do their job. They send their checks late, don't get mental health services for kids (or families) in crisis, and they treat foster parents as if they are an evil necessity, rather than as valued members of a professional team.

I think that we've made plenty of sacrifices for our daughter of our time and emotional energy. We should not have to reach into our own pockets and pay for things that the county should be covering. They are the ones that disrupted her life by removing her. They owe her services to get her life back on track. They were the ones that chose to become involved in the first place, so they need to finish the job.

This is a money thing, pure and simple. Foster families should be reimbursed for their actual out-of-pocket costs, period. If a kid needs braces, punches a hole in their wall, or steals a car, the county should reimburse them for damages. If a foster parent loses wages because they have to go to appointments or appear in court, they should be reimbursed for that, too. It's only fair to ask the county to pay a share of the foster family's housing, utility and food costs that are used by the foster child.

Asking for a commitment is fair. Asking a family to put their financial future on the line is not.

Yondalla posted a reply to Process' post. It's far more thoughtful, well-written and articulate than anything I could put together on this subject. All I can really say about Yondalla's post is, yeah, what she said.