Foster care- how its supposed to work

It's all working out for the best

It's our last week with Buttercup. This transition/end is much easier than last time for sure. Since buttercup is older, she gets time to prep mentally, and we have a reunification countdown calendar at the house so she knows exactly what is happening when.



Last time, we got a few hours notice before a social worker picked up jellybean and took him away forever- Roman didn't even get home in time to say goodbye.


Things are so different this time! We have built a good relationship with Buttercups mom, and she has asked us to stay in touch, and if we could be their emergency contact- OF COURSE! We are excited about their reunification- they both have waited for this for so long and worked hard to get to this point.

Her humor and charm will certainly be missed by our entire family- but it's not goodbye- its see ya later!

TRANSITIONS

The transition to reunification for Buttercup has begun. During our vacation, the adults involved were busy making a decision in court.  Since Buttercups Mom is doing great on her court-mandated classes, and always shows up for visits, and is taking part in Buttercups life, she has been granted weekend visits, meaning starting immediately, Buttercup will be gone Friday afternoon-Sunday afternoon.

Of course, there is a lot of mixed feelings about this transition, but mostly I am excited for buttercup and her mom. they have been apart for 10 months and they just belong together- who am I to get in the way. Also, this brings back my feeling of being only a disciplinarian without being able to have the fun times of the weekend (especially with all our issues with school). We are excited about her transition home, and how that will open our home up for another tiny person.



When we were on the way to Buttercups first overnight, I looked into the back seat to see a teary-eyed little one scared to spend the night at her moms. We talked all about how Her mom has to follow the same rules of our house, and it's going to be a safe place for her now. I wasn't really expecting it to be hard for Buttercup because she doesn't want to leave her mom at the end of visits to go with me.

Anyway, it turned out well- we sent her some pictures of Big Joe (the frog) and the dogs in her bed keeping guard of her room while she was gone. Her mom said that she got a kick out of them.

update: of course now she's too excited to go with mom, and only tears to come back to our house...