Things Foster Kids Miss

Monkey butt's baby sister called Friday night. We were just leaving dinner and had just gotten in the car when my cell phone rang and it was cutie for her sis.

She talked all the way til we got home.  I could tell most of the conversation from what kiddo's end of conversation was and she filled me in on some of the rest after we got home.

Baby sis said they had school pics done a few weeks ago and kiddo asked if she was going to send us some.  She said she couldn't because nobody bought them for her.

That hurt my heart to think of the little things that we take for granted as a path in the journey through childhood.

As soon as I found that out, I e-mailed the director at the group home and also her social worker and requested the information on school photos and permission to order them for her.  I said I wanted her to feel as normal as possible and the fact that she brought up the school pics with kiddo made me feel like it was important to her.

I also suggested they contact us going forward for any little things that come up that aren't covered that may be important to her, needs and even a few wants if it's not big.  ie. yearbooks, although I certainly hope that she's with a family before high school hits for the yearbooks most kids want.

I got this response from her social worker, none from director of group home:

I’ll let you know if some small expense comes up that can’t be covered by us. But the biggest problem is that I am often left in the dark and never hear about it in the first place rather than that there is no way to pay for it (like school photos and yearbooks). My kids are in so many different school systems that I never learn any pattern of when those issues are likely to arise so that I know when to ask the school or placement about them.

She also added a thank you for caring about baby sis and for being such great parents for our kid.  

Before I even responded, I got another e-mail from the social worker that she tracked down the place that had the photos and called for info and that the customer service rep that answered the telephone said no worries and don't worry about payment.  She was in a group home as a child and wanted to pay it forward and she'd take care of the bill.

That did my heart good.  

Oh, and a big step in baby sis's progress---she asked about my hubs.  She has NEVER asked about either of us before.  Caring about anybody other than herself or her sister is a huge deal.

Monkey also said though that she got sad because baby sis sounded sad for a minute when she was sharing that a 17 year old at the home has a family now.  

I hope cute baby sis soon has one too.  I think her healing is beginning and I hope that we'll so more progress soon. Trying to line up a play date and excited to see how she's doing.