Maybe because Angie has been in our home for eight years, six months and 5 days . That is 3105 days. The plan for Angie was changed from foster care to adoption in June 2015 and we were told that the adoption process would take 6-8 months. Seventeen months later we are still striving to get this thing done. Each step of the way we are told by the state that they have a certain amount of time to complete the current task. If it is 30 days, they do it on day 29 or even after. Time after time we have completed the tasks given to us, only to wait months for the state to complete theirs.and then insist that everything is "right on track". I am about ready to drive down to Salem and cause a ruckus~spoken like a true hick from the sticks.
Angie desperately wants to be adopted and she fully understands what that means. She is done with foster care and so are we. Recently, I was asked to speak to a group of potential foster and adoptive parents about what the experience is like and I had to decline. I have spoken to groups many times over the years, but I just can't do it anymore. How I can recommend becoming involved in a system that causes heartbreak for children and families? I am not just referring to our case, but countless others I am aware of. Children returned to nasty living situations time and time again. Parents given repeated chances to hurt and neglect their children. Children taken from the only parents they have ever known for years to be placed with relatives they have never met. The system is broken.
The holidays and the end of 2016 are ahead. We want so badly to make Angie a Harris forever before 2017. I still have a thread of hope for that, but I am increasingly disillusioned by a system and people who say that permanency is a priority but act as if they have better things to do. Thank you for listening to this rant tonight as I just needed to be heard. Updates to come.....
No comments:
Post a Comment