Venom

Are you ever in the mood to just let it all rip?
Run your mouth off about anyone and everyone, caring not what carnage you leave in your path?
Today's victim: CPS
Remember, I warned you.
Five calls in five days about five different, needy, special children. No placements.

Baby #1--2-month-old girl being released from the hospital for injuries incident to abuse. NO

Baby #2--5-month-old boy and his sibling group of FIVE taken into care because of neglect. NO

Baby #3--5-month-old boy and his sibling group taken into care at 2:45 am Wednesday night/Thursday morning for neglect. NO

Baby #4--Little girl, found abandoned in a rental car last night at 10 pm, no id, no nothing, not even a name. Suspected age: 2-3 years old. NO

Baby #5--This call just in. 2-month-old girl taken into care for abuse. Mom was taking meth while breastfeeding. Called an hour ago, but I'm sure the verdict is going to be NO.

Do you have any idea how many hours of training it takes to become a foster parent?
30 hours of agonizing in a room with social workers ten to fifteen years younger than you are who have never been parents, teaching about parenting. Not to mention the six required hours of continuing education training every year. Last I checked, I knew how to deal with a poopy diaper and crying. And how to make kids do chores occasionally. And how to talk to a teenager.

Do you have any idea how many hoops it involves jumping through to become a foster parent?
Fingerprinting, background checks, personal references, recommendations from each child's teacher, interviews with each of your children, safety inspections of your home and your cars, proof of insurance, and quarterly visits.

Do you have any idea how much it costs to become a foster parent?
Depending on the level of certification you acquire, anywhere up to $800, excluding fees and incidental expenses accrued during the certification process.

I've done it all. I've paid the cash, I've served my time in training, I've jumped and rejumped through the governmental hoops. I've taken calls anywhere from early morning to the middle of the night.

The system is so broken, and parenting levels in this country are so poor. No training exists for these idiot parents. No hoops. No certificate presented to announce your qualifications to parent.

It seems to be all about the adults--the birth parents' rights, CPS's stupid politics and placement decisions.

Answer me this:
Why can I not be the one to help these kids?
I assuage my anger by telling myself that these kiddos are in other approved foster homes. Even if they aren't here.
But every time I hear another story, another case, another tragedy, I want to help. I want to take them home and show them what a loving, caring, safe family is like. I want to be the one to help them.
And I want to keep them. Forever.

Oh, there's the phone.

Nope. Not them.
Epiphany #37--Birth doesn't make you a parent. Training doesn't make you a parent. Daily baths and timeouts and bandaids and homework and stories and songs and chores and soothing and holding and nurturing and caring and loving make you a parent.