Sunday, January 2, 2011

Social workers.

When I got my two new little girls the DHS worker told me he would work on getting them some Christmas presents.

2 days before Christmas Eve their social worker called me and said she had some Christmas presents for them and would drop them off that day.

An hour or so later another random person from the agency called me and told me the worker had gifts for the kids and that they would be dropping them off that day.

She never came.

She called me on Christmas Eve saying she wanted to get them to me before it was too late and asked if she could drop them off that night, then asked if she could drop them off Christmas day.  They made sure to tell me they weren't wrapped.

She never came.

I called her a couple days after Christmas and said "I just wanted to make sure you didn't drop them off on the porch like I said you could because I never saw them and wanted to make sure that they didn't get stolen or something."  "I am so sorry!  No, I never dropped them off, I will be out in the field tomorrow and I will drop them off."

She STILL has never come.

I did at one point tell her that we HAD bought gifts for the girls so they would not be going without BUT it is January 2 and the girls still have never seen these gifts that the agency made such a big deal about.

What if they would have been their only gifts?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

That's so disappointing and disheartening. :-(

Carol said...

That is inexcusable--especially with the number of times the gifts were promised to be dropped off.

We always get very nice gifts from DHS for any foster kids we have placed with us and this is in addition to the money from the state provided for gifts.

This year they received large gift bags with a larger gift, (our 11 month old got a Fisher Price school bus)a puzzle, a good size stuffed animal, a large stocking full of things like books, a dvd or a cd, and crayons or markers.

Rebecca said...

I have heard of counties that provide nice Christmas gifts for the kids. My county provides between $35-$75 for the foster parent to go out and buy gifts. The babies get $35...you can't really get much for $35, even for a baby. The teenagers get $75...what kind of gift for a teenager costs under $100? But, because the foster parents get money from the county for the gifts, they don't qualify for the programs that offer Christmas gifts to homeless or low income kids. In those programs, kids get Xboxes, bikes, iPods, etc. Kind of frustrating, for sure.

Kylee said...

How frustrating! C and K got A LOT of presents this year, even though they were already adopted. (Since we didn't adopt them until November, the gifting orders had already been placed). They both got gifts from DHS and our private agency. We ended up saving a lot for the birthdays this year, because my mom wasn't about ready to go out and buy an equal amount of presents for my brothers!

I would make sure your girlies get those gifts. They've had enough taken away from them already ,and someone donated those presents, thinking they would be at a child this Christmas.

Mrs. Bird said...

Ugh! How frustrating!!!

Endless Foster Love said...

I bet that social worker received her gifts at Christmas........and is not still waiting to receive them.

FootPrints said...

wow. how hard is it to swing by on your way home...especially when it's so important like possible the only gifts they'd get for christmas.

Crayon said...

That is ridiculous. Plus if you had older kids and you were trying to keep things even, a bunch of gifts from DSS after the fact for just the two wouldn't help. It's nice that they offered, but still.

We don't receive anything for our kids for Christmas. No money or gifts. A local church puts on a party, but it is separate from DSS. DSS barely acknowledges the kids at Christmas.

Wait, I take that back. They DON'T acknowledge them...the party was the only opportunity and I didn't see a single worker/DSS employee. I was kind of disappointed to discover this. I didn't have any problem providing for Jade from my stipend, but it would be nice to let the kids know their worker cares. A call, a card, an email... At least I sent Jade's worker a Christmas card with a photo of her.

aka. Mimi said...

Christmas is the ONE time a year that people DO seem to come through for my kids. The county (although that is delivered by their caseworker, so I don't depend on that as much), my agency, and a couple of not-for-profits geared towards foster care always help give my kids an awesome Christmas.

As frustrated as I get with CPS and the entire foster care system sometimes, the one thing that I am very thankful for is how everyone comes together to help my kids at Christmas.

Rebekah said...

That's an outrage. For me, it's less about the actual gifts and more about their lack of commitment. Your YES should always be YES. You don't give me much hope for the system we're about to dive into.

Kelli said...

That is sad. Peoples word means nothing anymore.

Missional Family said...

Hmmm...we never got anything from DCS when our kids were in care. EVER! Heck, for 2 of the 4 years, they screwed up our per diem checks in Nov and Dec, so our budget was tiiiiiiiiight! We always managed to provide them everything they wanted/needed. I can see their first CW being that way....good heart, horrible follow through!