A Phone Call

Well, finally some progress.

Yesterday, I got an email from our caseworker and she’s finishing up our paperwork for approval. She included one final task for us to complete, and it was a doozy.

Mark and I had to sit down together and make some big choices– what behaviors and disorders we would be willing to consider when a child is placed with us.

Here goes:

For each of these, we had to check “Willing to Consider” or “Will Not Consider”:

Behaviors:
Abusive/Aggressive to Others, Accident Prone, Bed Wetting, Cheating, Cling to Adults, Cruel to Animals, Destructive to Property, Fighting, Frequently, Fire Setting, Harmful to Self, Hyperactivity, Impulsivity, Lying, Nightmares, Obscene Language, Phobias, Running Away, Sexual: Masturbation, Sexual: Provocative with Adults, Sexual: Provocative with Child, Sexual: Sexually Active, Soiling, Stealing, Temper Tantrums, Truancy, Withdrawal

Emotional/Mental:
Adjustment Disorders, Antisocial/Other Personality Disorders, Attachment Disorders, Autism, Bipolar Disorder/Manic Depression, Conduct Disorder, Delusions, Depression, Gender Identity Disorder, Panic/Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Schizophrenia, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Sleep Disorder, Suicide Ideation Attempts

Neuro/MusuloSkeletal:
Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy/Seizures, Multiple Sclerosis, Orthopedic Problems, Paralysis, Physical Handicaps, Parkinson’s Disease, Spina Bifida

AIDS/HIV/STDs:
AIDS, HIV+, Venereal Diseases

Eating/Digestive Disorders:
Anorexia, Bulimia, Digestive Disorders, Feeding Problems, Hoards/Gorges Food

Respiratory Problems:
Allergies, Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, Cystic Fibrosis

Heart/Blood Problems:
Heart Defect, Heart disease, Hemophilia, High Blood Pressure, Sickle Cell Trait, Sickle Cell Anemia

Physical Problems:
Birthmarks, Cancer, Cleft Lip, Diabetes, Growth Disorders, Hearing Problems, Liver Problems, Paralysis, Prematurity, Problems Requiring Surgery, Vision Problems, Blindness

Learning Problems:
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Down’s Syndrome, Learning Disabilities, Mental Retardation, Slow Learner

Substance Abuse/Use:
Alcoholism, Drug Abuse (soft), Drug Abuse (hard), Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE), Prenatal Drug Exposure, Tobacco Use

Developmental Delays:
Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Social, Speech/Language, Sensory Integration Disorder

Abuse/Neglect:
Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Medical Neglect, Physical Neglect, Shaken Baby Syndrome

In addition to all of this, we also had to answer the following:

1. What types of foster placements are we willing to accept? Long-term, short-term, or urgent placements?

2. Are we willing to be respite providers?

3. How many children are we willing to accept at any one time? (Sibling groups, etc)

4. What gender are we looking for?

5. Finally, there was the race issue. Just so you everyone knows, the caseworkers are not allowed to ask you if you have a racial preference in a child. If you have any preferences, then you have to say so. They won’t ask you.

Last night, Mark and I went through the whole list of behaviors and disorders, etc. We each filled out our checklist separately, then compared answers. I was very thankful that we agreed on all but about 5 of them. We discussed those and came to a unified decision and I sent everything back in this morning.

Our caseworker hopes to have everything completed by the end of the day today.

TODAY!