[villagemom]

Saw some posts where people are involved in case planning/conferences/meetings and such with SW and Bios.

By MI state law, as FP, we are suppossed to participate in these--ha!--I'm not even sure our agency does these with bio parents! As for case plans, they are suppossed to be updated on a quarterly basis and a copy given to all parties including FP. I have to laugh---the only one I've ever gotten is when the kids have first come into care and I've had to beg for it.

So, I'm curious....

1.How many of you actually get copies of the Parenting Plan on a regular basis?
2. How many of you are actually able to participate in the case planning/meeting/conference...and what has your experience been like? Do you feel like it gives you more of a voice, more control? Or is it just a "nice" thing to make you feel like you have a say.

It just seems like it would make so much sense to include FP in these meetings...we are the ones with the kids 24/7, we have a lot of info on their behaviours while they are in placement that all parties should be aware of and working on together.

[Kate1129]

We have been involved in the meetings. They do not happen very often. It's one of those make the plan wait and see if it happens. If there is a change, back to another meeting. We've had 3 meetings with out fs and fd. They have been in care for a year. Yes we do get a copy of the plan report each time.

Do I feel like I have a voice? Not really. I like to be there cause I get a better idea of what's going on.

[swsoutherlands]

We have our first parent team meeting on Thursday morning. I'm sending my husband because of the "issues" with the psycho step-dad. I don't know that we'll have much of a say in what happens. There are sooo many parties involved in this deal right now. We have the birth mom, her new husband (of less than a week), and her sister. We have the birth dad (never married to the birth mom but fathered three kids) and his mom and his step-dad. We have a case worker, her assistant, a guardian ad litem for the kids, and a representative for the State Attorney General's office. And then there's us. We'll be there mostly so that we know what's going on. Our case worker is not that great about calling us and it's so much easier to learn it ourselves. Plus, this first meeting we'll be battling over visitation and hopefully having my husband there will make it easier to get our needs heard and supported. Of course, on a more negative note, it also makes us a visible/known target for the parties who still see us and the state as the enemy (because we have the kids).

[Rocking Mama]

We've been foster parents for 3 years. Of the 4 kids we've had, we only got paperwork from the first one-- and we got to adopt her! The next 3 kids all were RU and I did not get ONE piece of paperwork from any of these 3 cases. I asked regularly and was always assured that I would be getting it, but NEVER did. After they were RU of course the SW figured I didn't need any of it.
I don't know how I can get a better response next time! Any suggestions? RM

[bjhv5]

We have the reviews on the 7th for our 17 mo and 4 month old which are sibs,as well as our 28 month old which they are going to recoomend changing from RU to TPR because ** has done nothing.It will be the first review I have been to but we have only been doing this since April.

[leastofthese]

We have had case plan conferences/team meetings on nearly all of our children who have been in our care for more than just a couple of weeks. Sometimes if they are very short term, the cabinet will not do the team meeting.

When I've had a long term placement where the worker was dragging his/her heels about doing meetings in a timely manner or if I was not being notified of meetings, I would email the worker and cc a copy to the worker's supervisor letting them know "it was my understanding that meetings were supposed to be held every x number of months, and according to my calculations, that's any day now. Please advise me as to the date and time so that I can mark my calendar accordingly. Thank you."

Then after the meeting (assuming it actually takes place) I again email the worker thanking them for the time they are investing in this child and asking if they would please mail me a copy of the case plan (or better yet, make a copy for me to pick up at the office) so I can put it in the child's documentation book.

I've had to email a couple of times to actually get a response on occasion, but emailing DOES prompt action most of the time because it leaves a trail that proves whether they're doing their job or not. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CC A COPY TO THE WORKERS SUPERVISOR!!!

As for whether I feel I've been heard in team meetings, it depends on the situation. I do feel like they've allowed me to advocate for my kids. More often than not, it has been a good source of information for me. It was always interesting how much I found out about the birth family each time we had a meeting.

[locoenlacabeza]

1.How many of you actually get copies of the Parenting Plan on a regular basis? I get them pretty regularly on one case, have never recieved them on another.
2. How many of you are actually able to participate in the case planning/meeting/conference...and what has your experience been like? Do you feel like it gives you more of a voice, more control? Or is it just a "nice" thing to make you feel like you have a say.

On one case, we have participated in everything. It was tough at times, especially when mom realized that the kids were bonding with us, then it became a competition. And still is. It has been tough, because sometimes you have to give it to the parents straight because no one else in the room is willing to do that. I do feel like it has given me more of a voice. I have been willing to stand up and fight for what is right for these boys when no one else was willing to.
When the bp's are especially manipulative, add that to a "GREEN, Wet behind the ears" SW, things can get twisted, and then no good is being done for the kids. So sometimes, it takes people standing up and saying what needs to be said.

[cb131]

Before our cw from cyf got changed we got every paper we were entilted to get.From court papers so we knew when the hearing was ( in case we wanted to go ) to the result of hearings & case plans, we recieved EVERYTHING.(oh how I miss being informed.)The cw we have now ,we get NOTHING & our agency cw gets everything late.So I think it all depends on the cw.

[TexasJingles]

Well, we were sent letters inviting us...unfortunately, it was a 5 hour drive (one way) and on a work day, and no one to pick up the children after school...so we couldn't go.

We always received the plans...sometimes months later. I laughed at some because they had so much wrong info in them.

But, we adopted them anyways, without too many hitches.

[specialcricket]

My kids have been in care for almost 3 weeks and we have had 2 meetings. I have gotten copies of the plan and meeting info each time. My CW invites me to all the meetings, court, etc. And she schedules visits around me. She says I have a life too and I work, so that is the way it is. So far I have been really pleased with how much she has included me. But, visits with BP's can be a little intimidating. Each meeting counted as a visit too since the kids were there for the whole meetings.

[wrekdiver]

Our sws comes out once a month to visit with our fs. She, informally, lets me know what she and the bioparents have been talking about and the goals for RU. She's not really forthcoming and I usually have to ask very specific questions to get a bigger (but not complete) picture of what's going on.
Fortunately, that is a non-issue now. Our sws really believes in "dual planning" for all her cases. So she works on a RU and adoption plan side by side. Fortunately, she lets the bioparents know this right away so they can either work very hard for RU or just give up. Our fs parents decided to go with adoption when they lapsed in their rehab program.
We've never gotten a caseplan or goals for RU on our fs. I did get a copy of the court order telling us he was being placed in fostercare, 4 months after he was with us.