AdvoKids

-
I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to an organization called AdvoKids.  As a foster parent, you feel like you have very little say when it comes to court hearings and legal proceedings.  That's how I felt as our January hearing loomed ahead.  Thankfully, Advokids showed me how to have a voice and how to advocate for my child.  All it took was an email over the weekend, and a lawyer called me back on Monday morning.  She answered my questions and told me exactly what to say to the judge.  She emailed me the correct wording and additional documents to support my filing.  After that she followed up with a phone call to make sure that everything went well.  I could not be more grateful to them.  As I stood before the judge, I felt confident in my wording and my requests.  The judge even smiled and nodded - without Advokids' help, I would've have floundered and may have missed an important step.  When it comes to foster care, so often you only hear about the bad.  But there are so many good people who don't get the recognition they should.  Thank you to those of you - social workers, foster parents, teachers, therapists, judges, attorneys, clerks, whoever you might be - who fight tirelessly for these children.

Comments

  1. CarolJanuary 25, 2012 at 3:19 PM

    Well said :) The lawyer's call was a God-thing, God's timing in my book!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Have Prayed for This Child

-
M and I are having one of those days.  He's acting like a 1 year old and I want him to understand me like a 5 year old.  Every time I turn around, something has been pulled off a shelf.  Every time I try to do something like empty the dishwasher, M needs me with sudden clinginess.  Instead of saying please, I constantly am reminding him not to whine.  His room is covered in books, clothes that he's pulled out of his drawer, and diapers (thankfully clean!).  I'm exhausted and ready to close my bedroom door and cry.  But instead I bend to pick up the books and realize that his daily flip calendar is still on March.  So I change it to today's date, and here was the verse: 1 Samuel 1:27 (NCV) "I prayed for this child, and the Lord answered my prayer and gave him to me." Then the tears came.  I have been praying for this sweet little boy since before I knew him.  It has always been my  heart's desire to be a mother, and he has heard my cry and answered.  M
Read more

Cupcakes

-
I am having trouble falling asleep. My normal solution is to count sheep, which is in effect so boring that I fall asleep. But even this is failing me. My mind races with the stressors of the day or with depression at not being where I want to be. The other night my solution was to think about cupcakes. I recently watched an episode of Master Chef where the contestants were challenged to create the most amazing cupcakes. Sharone created a chocolate cupcake with cream-cheese nutella frosting – I was salivating. Nutella is amazing. Cream cheese frosting provides a reason to eat cake. Put them together and you have the food of heaven. I was inspired. So I began thinking of other cupcakes I could create. Almond Bark... peanut butter cup... tiramisu... cheesecake... Last weekend I decided to take on the first one. I confess that I am stealing this idea from Sharone – it is brilliant, and it combines several of my favorite things. It is important to remember that my goal is
Read more

When Words Don't Come

-
Sometimes words just cannot describe what you are feeling.  Sometimes they just don't capture a moment well-enough.  Not for lack of desire or trying, but sometimes the words just don't come.  Two weeks ago I wanted to sit down and blog about the most wonderful thing that had happened.  Two weeks ago I couldn't wait to share the good news.  And for two weeks, the words haven't come. Two weeks ago we signed the intent to adopt papers for our sweet Baby M!  He has now been with us for over a year and we continue to fall more in love with him every day.  We have learned how important each day is.  We have learned that God knows our hearts and is not setting out to hurt us even when we can't see the big picture.  We have learned the value of family and the importance of prioritizing.  We have learned to use each moment of a "waiting period". Sometimes words don't come because we are so wrapped up in the moment.  But there is value in reflection.  As I
Read more