Lazy Fridays

Not much was happening in the office this Friday.

I did a lot of sitting around and feeling guilty for not doing anything. I spent the first half of the morning filling out paperwork to get birth certificates and social security cards for children in care. Fun stuff right here, I tell ya!

I sat in on a meeting with Leigh, her supervisor, and a case manager with a client. The client was a woman with many mental disorders. She mentioned schizophrenia. DFCS has been involved in her family for about 6 months. This particular meeting was informing here that if she didn't take care of a few things, DFCS would be seeking a court order to have her do them.  Her children need some types of medical treatment and she had canceled all the appointments that had been set up. They told her she had until Feb. 15 to have the childrens' appointments done and they would be taking her to court.

It was a sad situation all around because she had no form of transportation and said she was about to be kicked out of her house. Her friend had agreed to let her two kids stay with her, but the client and her fiance are likely about to be homeless.  Sigh.

I then met Neville. Neville is actually an MSW student as well and in my adoption and foster care class. He is advanced standing though (he has a BSW, so we graduates with his MSW in a year) In addition to being in school full time, he works for Sleepy County DFCS. Dedication right there. He in an investigator, so he took me out to investigate.  We were going to Tia's home. Neville had been out to Tia's home quite a few times (the first time she actually told him she was the babysitter, lol) Tia and her husband had split up and the three kids lived with both of them. Someone made a report that Tia's trailer had drug needles in the sink, the kids were unsupervised, and that her daughter's teeth were rotten and falling out.

Tia greeted us and the two youngest kids were outside playing. Her daughter's teeth were definitely rotten and falling out.  The children did look dirty and unkempt. Neville asked me in the car if I thought Tia was high and I said no. I did admit that I don't know what people look/act like when they're high. Neville was trying to get the name of the dentist that Tia said had seen her children. She said she had been to the dentist and that he told her that she would just have to wait until the rotten teeth fell out. She didn't have much time to talk because she was needing to get her oldest son off the bus.

She promised Neville that she would get a ride to the DFCS office as soon as her son got off the bus. She needed to sign up for food stamps and medicaid and answer a few questions for Neville. Neville didn't think she would show up; we had a little bet. I was sure Tia was coming in.  And she did. I was able to sit in on the meeting.

I'm getting tired, I'll have to write more on my reactions and thoughts tomorrow. I think I got most of what happened down.