At war with DFCS

Here is my latest email that I sent tonight:


Dear Ladies:

We have been working with the Whitfield County Department of Family and Children's Services to become foster to adopt parents. To date, our home study has not been reviewed. Below is our home study timeline:

October 6, 2008 - made first call to DFCS to inquire about adoption
October 14, 2008 - Orientation
October 18, 2008 - November 17, 2008 - Impact classes, Cherry Log
November 24, 2008 - Home Study Visit
December 1, 2008 - Home Study Visit

We sent an email to Mr. ***** and Mr. ***** last Saturday. We did not get a response from either gentleman until Ms. ******* called us around noon on Tuesday to apologize, sympathize, while yet not offering a date that we could expect to hear back about our home study. We did not email Ms. *******, a part-time employee about this matter. We emailed Mr. **** and Mr. ***** and expected a return call from one if not both of them but definitely not a subordinate.

One week has come and gone and that is all we have heard out of DFCS. Now we are approaching the end of the month which in the past we have been told is a busy time around the DFCS office therefore we don't expect that we will hear anything any time soon. At orientation and another time while turning in paperwork, we were told that we would be able to attend the AFPAP Conference in Jekyll Island in 2009 where we would be able to take classes and receive continuing education credits. We were also told about this event and highly recommended to attend while taking our Impact classes. At one point, we were going to take our First Aid and CPR at the local Red Cross but were discouraged and told that we could take the classes at this conference. We were told that the conference information would be forthcoming as the date got closer. Obviously, everyone in "the system" thought we would be approved by now or they would not have been encouraging us to attend this conference. We have heard nothing else about this conference until today. By doing our own research, we found out the conference is in less than two weeks.

As we sit here tonight on February 13th, we have waited patiently until now. However at this point, we will not patiently wait anymore. We will continue to escalate this until we get the attention that we deserve. However, this is not about "us" as it is about the children that fall victim to "the system." Per www.MyTurnNow.com, there are 250 children and at any given time in the state of Georgia waiting to be adopted. Ironically on so many of the children's profiles, it mentions that the adoptive parent needs to be an advocate for the child. Never did we realize that we would have to advocate so hard to become a child's advocate. We expect an immediate call from you.

Sincerely,
Billy & Shana