my job: part 1 | little things + big stuff

I just don?t blog about it much anymore, do I? I?ll be honest: The initial excitement about having my first full-time social work job has worn off. (Might partially be because I plan to stay home when T + E get here? More on that later).

I?ve struggled to explain what I do at work when asked. ?Facilitating adoptions from foster care? is pretty broad.?

What I actually do: When a foster kid?s case worker files the paperwork with the court to begin the termination of parental rights proceedings, they also send me an adoption referral if the kid?s plan is adoption. I get lots of info on the kid, and then I call the current foster parents for more. I write up a summary of the child: their personality, likes and dislikes, what their time in foster care has been like, education, health, significant relationships, and birth parent info. If a kid is already in a foster home that wants to adopt, I review it with them.

If he/she is not in a pre-adoptive home, I make a shorter, less detailed, more exciting profile to send to other agencies or to post on Adopt US Kids in order to recruit an adoptive family. This can end up being really sad or really exciting. A lot of people want babies and toddlers, and babies and toddlers are not for whom we recruit parents. It is fun to see the home studies families submit for consideration. And my first recruitment case is just now getting underway, but I?m thinking it?s going to be awesome when I find a family that is a perfect match for these kids? needs.?

I also complete the necessary (boring) legal paperwork with the family that authorizes them to receive a maintenance payment, health insurance for the child, day care, and legal fees. (Did you know adopting from ?foster care costs nothing? You kind of even get ?paid.?)

Next, I complete a home study update for them. Usually, another person has already done the family?s foster care home study. I visit the family in their home to get more info. Because our agency covers three counties, this can mean long drives. (And meeting cool dogs.) I add info specific to adoption, the child, and their current situation ? health, employment, finances, household composition. When all this is completed and approved, I write a letter to the court stating my evaluation of the family and their fit for the child to be adopted.

And, I?ll say it once again: We need more foster parents! Foster parents who are willing to foster without the promise of adoption. It happens, but not always.

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Source: http://littlethingsbigstuff.com/2012/11/07/my-job-part-1/

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