Oh how I love my agency

Did I mention the 3 am phone call asking if I could take a 3 year old boy? When Sabrina was already at my home and I'm only licensed for one kiddo? Perhaps if Sabrina hadn't already woken me up three times that night I might have been coherent enough to realize not to answer the phone.

But that's not what is bothering me today. Today I spoke with Sabrina's GAL, who reported that the ICPC referral for dad was finally submitted on Friday. At that point, Sabrina had already been with me 3 weeks, and the judge ordered that the referral be a priority. So Sabrina will get an extended visit with Dad over Christmas, but will have to come back to me after. All because the agency didn't get their act together to do what needed to be done. They use the holiday (Thanksgiving) as an excuse, but now Christmas will make the one-month time frame for dad's state to do what they need to do last longer than a month. Grrr.

Also, I think Sabrina's social worker just doesn't know what she's talking about. Last Thursday the GAL and I talked about therapy for Sabrina. The GAL called the social worker and they talked about it. Then the social worker and I talked about it when she brought Sabrina back to my house after her visit with her mommy. On Friday the social worker emailed me, in follow up, the name and phone number of the person to call to get a mental health assessment, which she said is how we would then get recommendations for services. So today I called the mental health person and was educated on the process. The mental health assessment is mandatory for all kids after they have been in care for 30 days. It is not actually how a kid gets therapy. If there is a crisis (which she said hitting and biting constituted), the social worker is supposed to submit a referral for therapy. So far Sabrina hasn't hit me today so I'm not feeling too much in crisis mode. We'll see how long this lasts.