Too old

The bio mom continues to not let us take the kids anywhere, so while we went to a great town for a mandatory business conference, they had to go to respite. It was such a shame; we could have taken turns being at the conference and the kids could've spent the entire weekend exploring the amazing museums, parks and cool events with the person who wasn't at the conference.

They were deeply upset about having to go to respite -- Sophia clung to me, screaming, "I don't want to go!" as I tried to get her buckled in the car -- but when they came back, they were beaming. They'd had a great time: they'd gotten to go swimming twice, which made anything worth it to them.

The foster mom indicated to us that they had behaved in their typical, traumatized way. We thanked her devoutly for creating such a great weekend for them, and off we went.

Two days later, our agency told us that family never wants to have them again.

"I think they're just too old," the agency worker said.

"You mean, they never want to see them again?" my wife asked.

"Pretty much," agency worker replied.

Too old...the new euphemism for "I don't have to put up with this shit."

 So the agency has decided to always use the family that the children hated -- the family that they begged us to never send them to again.

This raises several issues.

1. They have clearly called the respite families to ask them how it went. Wow. They've NEVER asked us that.

2. Now, not only will we have to push our screaming children into car seats for respite, but we'll have to do it knowing they're going to a family they HATE. Oh, that makes everything so much better.


3. Given the difficulty in finding a respite family that will work with them, why aren't they pushing harder to let us just take the kids with us?

Depressing and disgusting.