[MomInAL]

Can you tell me how your state/county deals with permissions slips (for field trips, sports, etc.) ?

Please be sure to tell what state you are in when answering...

I am in Alabama. We used to be able to sign permission slips ourselves. About 3-4 months ago our county informed us that the state was cracking down on this and that permission slips had to be signed by the caseworker. Also, if the permission slip has a "hold harmless" statement on it, then it either has to be crossed out or they cannot sign it.

Well, the schools will not accept a permission slip with the "hold harmless" statement crossed out... so basically in our area .. foster kids cannot go on field trips or play sports (T-ball, etc.) - anything that needs a permission slip.

I know that is not the intent of the state in this crackdown. I know they do not want to prevent these children from being involved in things, but that is what's happening. How is it handled in your state?

MomInAL
Married to DH 20 years!
DD 19, DD 17, FS 12, FS 10, FS 6, FS 5

[athikers]

I've usually gotten the bios to sign.

I think its ridiculous for state's to put kids lives on hold and not allow them the experiences that most children get to have... putting them further behind.

[mylilangels]

I'm in Ga and we always sign as the foster parent. We've never been told any different. I do know that before I take them for haircuts or piercings they do have to get bio to sign for it. They want to put my fd on bc pill and they said the director and bio have to sign, it's not up to me or cw..That is weird though, these kids need to be able to participate like any other child can.

[MomInAL]

I'm making some calls to the state level today - but so far I've just been able to leave voice mails and not speak to anyone!

I have one FS that already missed a field trip, one FS will miss a field trip tomorrow, and two FS will miss field trips next week!! That sure doesn't make for any happy campers!!

We are letting the boys spend the day with DH that day and he is doing something special with them, so at least they don't feel like they are totally missing out.

I hope we can get it straightened out though.

MomInAL
Married to DH 20 years!
DD 19, DD 17, FS 12, FS 10, FS 6, FS 5

[stevenstwin]

We are in Alberta and are given a very specific "delegation of authority" at the beginning telling us what we can and can not sign for - we can sign for all educational and recreational activites, can NOT sign for anything relating to religion, or for driver's licenses or firearms permits (?? Can't imagine a child under 18 could get one of those ANYWAY!). The Caseworkers have to sign those (I don't think the bios can, either, if the child is in custody at all). By the way - one point that seems to be a little different than in many of the situations I've read about here is that we can NOT take children to church or sunday school or anything like that without the permission of the bios.

[excited2adoptsoon]

wow. that's a shocker to me. I am in Cali and I've just signed my name to EVERYTHING that says "parent" and I've never been questioned about anything. It's crazy how our caseworkers, social workers, etc has never ever explained anything to us or given us a manual or anything and it's almost impossible to reach them. We basically just got a medical passport for our fd, and that's it! In a way, I like it this way...everything's been a breeze. But now I'm questioning if what I'm doing by signing my name on everything is legal or not.

[swiftde]

In the beginning I asked the dhs caseworker and she said I can sign those type of permission slips. Now we are close to adoption, bio mom is long gone out of the picture, we are planning a trip out of state, something we do have to have permission from the courts, but the adoption dhs caseworker, (not the same person as the first caseworker) has drug her feet, showed how incompetant she really is and made one too many mistakes, it is doubtful the adoption will finalize before we go out of state, which was our goal. I was mad and said I will take him no matter what because this adoption should have been finalized months ago and I shouldn't have to get special permission to take him out. Believe it or not the caseworker got that paperwork done quickly.
I am in Colorado

[Bailey071097]

I am in Texas and specifically asked the CW when a field trip came up for the first time. I was told explicity that, YES, we can sign for field trips and it is not a problem at all.

[Joy2566]

I'm in PA and with a private agency, so the rules are different than with CYS. I am allowed to sign for regular school trips. However, my 15yo had a trip to Ohio and I can't sign for him to go out of state. I am allowed to take him out of state as long as we don't stay overnight (we live 10 min from the state line). I had trouble getting permission for that trip as the teacher dragged her feet about getting me the required information for the permission to travel. Our other option is for me to go on the trip as a chaperone and I would have done so, if that was the only way he could have gone.

As for church, we can't "force" the children to go to church. We do make it a requirement that the children have to agree to before we accept placement. Our current bio's would prefer the kids go to a different church, however he has never done the work required to make that happen. Telling me that he wants the kids to go to XYZ church is not enough, he would have to make the request of the judge. He has only objected to our church as a means to try to make us lose the kids--they are a fost/adopt placement.

[swanzie]

We are also allowed to sign for trips/school stuff/ sports etc. It was only suggested that we don't sign stuff at the emergency room - that way we are not liable for any charges that the state medical didn't pick up - they just said to write down DSS - the address and the cw.

I keep my cw very informed - so I tell her when I sign the kids up for things or they are doing this that or another thing. We also can take them to church - however we aren't allowed to have the baptized or anything like that. When the sister at CCD wouldn't put fd in with the other same grade because she didn't have the 1st year of CCD my cw called her and told her she would be doing more damage not letting her be with kids her own age etc. etc...and got her in with the same grade level.

As for school issues - in our state (mass) we as foster parents are automatically educational advocates unless we sign a piece of paper that says we don't want to be. So when it comes to what classes or dealing with teachers we are pretty much treated the same as regular parents. (but sometimes that all depends on the perception of fc by the teacher!!)

[stevenstwin]

Originally Posted by swanzie

As for school issues - in our state (mass) we as foster parents are automatically educational advocates unless we sign a piece of paper that says we don't want to be. So when it comes to what classes or dealing with teachers we are pretty much treated the same as regular parents. (but sometimes that all depends on the perception of fc by the teacher!!)

I'm glad they have a clear policy on that, though. We've never had a lot of direction here - I know as a teacher, with kids in foster care we are always told NOT to let the bio parents into the school or to have access to their children, but the bios are still listed on the child's contact information. No-one ever tells us WHO to talk to. So we're sitting there with three choices -the bios, the fosters, and the caseworkers. And since it is the caseworkers who have themselves listed as the legal guardians, that seems like the ones to call. When I first got my fs there was such confusion! There I was already in the school - so the other teachers would start their conversations with "I'm not sure who I'm supposed to talk to...but since you are right there...".