[mommy2fiveplus]

Call the CW have her or the Mom schedule any haircuts, pictures, visits w/santa, extra Dr. visits(beyond physicals and needed apt), or an other requests on the day/time of family visits. In our area a typical supervised visit is 1-2 hours, plenty of time to have pics taken or sit in a waiting room to see a dr. or just about any other request. If the visits are not supervised than why can't she just take the kids on her time to the things she wants done?

I agree with the "pick your battles" strategy but also it just comes down to dividing time amongst all the children. I cannot afford to put all of my time into one child's basket and risk short-changing another.

I agree that it is not unreasonable for the kid's Mom to want pic of her son to give out to family and they should be in clothes of her choosing, totally not unreasonable, HOWEVER if you have already has them taken once then it is not unreasonable to ask that she be responcible for having them done this time on HER time.

As for make-up visits, our agency does not allow them unless the parent has an excuse from the Dr. or something else REALLY compelling. No transportation, work schedule conflicts, "I forgot", "I'm in jail" or just about any other excuse is not good enough.

I did have a CW that gave me a spot of trouble for not doing a make-up visit (3rd visit parent missed in the month) so I just printed out a monthly schedule detailing all the visits (Dr, sport practices, therapy, Early On, Early Head start, bio fam visits, IEP, etc.) for 7 kids and my and Don's work schedule, I also penciled in the 4 hour blocks of sleep I get and the loads of laundry I do each day. Then I asked her where she wanted me to schedule in the extra missed visit. I have NEVER had a problem with this since.